Best Buddies
by WritingRowlet
Summary: Gray and Cana were the only kids in Fairy Tail for quite a while, so it's only natural that they would become buddies. Even through other kids joining the guild, rabid dogs, and young crushes, their friendship manages to stay strong.
1. Playing House

Little Gray had joined Fairy Tail just the day before. He already knew that he was one of only two kids there and that the other kid was a _girl_. It's not that he had a problem with girls, they were pretty and usually really nice and happy, but he wasn't quite thrilled with a girl being his only option for friendship. Yeah, he could try and be friends with the some of the teenagers, but it was more likely they would beat him up instead of just play-wrestle.

So, he was going to introduce himself and hope this girl wasn't lame.

Gray walked into the guild early that morning, looking around for the other kid Makarov had mentioned. He spotted her sitting at a table by herself watching a fight between a few already-drunk wizards. The girl was pretty, like really pretty. She had dark brown hair held up in a ponytail with a few pieces of it hanging around her face. A few freckles were splattered across her cheeks and arms. The girl wore a simple orange dress but no shoes. She was really, _really_ pretty.

Gray huffed and tried to make his chest puff out as he sauntered over as coolly as he could. He smirked in front of her and caught her attention. "Hiya, 'M Gray," he greeted, pointing to himself and slanting over with his weight on one leg.

The girl giggled at him, catching him off guard. "Where're your clothes?" She snickered into her hand. Gray looked down and yelped, looking around desperately for his clothes. He ran over to where they had been discarded and quickly put them back on while trying to smother his blush.

"I swear I didn't mean to do that!" he shouted while trying to get the stupid zipper up on his jeans.

"Yeah, yeah, Streaker," the girl giggled. "I'm Cana by the way." She couldn't believe that the only other kid here greeted her in his _underwear_.

"I'm not a streaker!" Gray defended. He huffed and sat down, crossing his arms. "Look, I dunno anybody here 'nd you're a kid so I thought I could talk to you or something…" he mumbled.

Cana looked at him and grinned, "So ya wanna be friends, huh?"

"I didn't say that!"

Cana giggled again, "Well I guess that wouldn't be too much…" she drawled out, smirking at the pale boy beside her, "If you show me your magic, I'll consider being your friend."

Gray smirked. She just wanted to see his magic? Easy peasy! He hopped down from his seat and stood in front of her with his legs pushed apart. He put his hands together and concentrated hard, calling out "Ice Make: Rose!" A flash of baby blue light shot out of his hands and faded off to show a glittering clear rose in his hand.

"Oh! It's so pretty!" Cana snatched the rose from his hands and looked it over.

"I got ice magic so I can make lots of stuff." Gray explained, placing his hands behind his head in an attempt to look cool.

"Do you always do that without your shirt, though?"

"Oh come on!"

Cana giggled, "I'm kidding!" Gray looked down and saw that his red shirt was still, in fact, on his body. He looked at her through his bangs and glared, making the girl laugh.

"So ya wanna see my magic?" Cana asked in an attempt to get his mind off her teasing. Gray's face lit up and he nodded, jumping on the table. Cana pulled out a deck of cards and started shuffling them. She pulled out four of them and laid them in front of Gray. "Flip 'em over," she commanded.

"Uhhhh OK…" He did as he was told and looked at the funny pictures on them with a wrinkle in his brow. "What're these?"

"They say you'll meet a lifelong friend. And that you will have one of the best days of your life today." Cana smiled at him and his confusion. "They're magic cards 'nd they're never wrong. I have more," she rifled through her bag and pulled out more decks, "and they can cut things up and can call people 'nd loads of stuff."

Gray grinned, "Those are so cool!" He laughed and leaned over to see the others, "Can any of those freeze stuff? Or make it snow?!"

Cana laughed and shook her head, leaning away from him slightly. "There are cards that can do that stuff but I don't got 'em." Gray's face dropped some but it went back after a second and he was ready to show her more ice magic when a body flew across the guild and over their heads.

"Whoa what the heck?" Gray looked over at the dark-haired man on the ground cradling his head. His eyes shot wide open in slight concern, only drawn away when Cana tapped his arm.

"Wanna go play somewhere else?" she asked. Gray nodded and followed her to the back of the guild hall. She opened a door to reveal an entire room filled with boxes. "This is where they keep boxes that the beer and rum come in. Master Makarov doesn't throw them away 'cause some people use 'em to practice their magic." Cana explained.

"So what are we doing in here?" Gray asked. Cana looked in one very pink box in the corner by the door and pulled out a bag of markers.

"We can draw on the boxes!" Cana said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. They sat down with a box between their legs and took up markers, covering the whole box in doodles ranging from stick figures to kitties to tick-tack-toe. They played Hang Man and created a picture by adding details to the same drawing together. It ended up being a puppy-fish-bear combination animal with a fishing pole. Once the box was covered Cana got up and went back to her pink box. She reached in and pulled out baby dolls and a few dress-up items. "Wanna play house?"

Gray scoffed, "I'm a boy, Cana. I don't play house."

"Really? Have you ever tried it?" she asked with a hand on her hip. Gray shook his head and got to his feet. "Well then maybe you should! I'll even let you pick out the baby!" Cana tried, laying out the five baby dolls she owned. The two held glares for a minute, neither wanting to give in to the other. Gray finally broke, looking down at the dolls on the floor. He fell onto his knees and picked each up to examine it. He wrinkled his nose at the first two, which were girls. No way was he having a daughter! Then he picked up a boy one and smiled.

"This one looks like the both of us kinda," he commented, handing it to Cana and dumping the other four back in the box. The doll had dark brown hair and pale, porcelain skin. Its eyes were dark blue and freckles dotted its cheeks. The baby wore a onesie with a punk piggy on it and a pair of little tennis shoes. Cana smiled and nodded.

"Now we gotta make a house!" Cana explained. She grabbed a few boxes and Gray carried the markers bag and baby out to the guild hall. The two shoved the boxes under a table and drew on them to make a fridge, stove, and crib. Cana ran out to grab a mat and pillow and ran back, making their "bed" up. She had grabbed another pillow as well and they put it the crib box as a mattress for the baby.

"So what's the baby's name?" Gray asked once they had their little home set up.

Cana held the doll in her arms, cradling it like it was real. "Jack," she answered. Gray nodded and laid down on the mat.

"Well ya can take care of Jack. I'm gonna nap." He faked snoring and forced his eyes to stay closed. Cana scowled and kicked his legs.

"Get up! You're not gonna be a lazy husband!" Cana fussed. She got him up eventually and they scooted around the home arguing like an old married couple over their 'child'. Cana eventually booted him out with Jack in tow to go the 'park' for father-son bonding so she could cook dinner. Gray tugged the doll around by its hand, spinning in circles and tossing it in the air to catch it.

Some of the other guild members had been watching the pair since they started trying to make their 'home' together. They found it hilarious how Cana bossed the boy around and barked at him about him taking his clothes off. Even funnier was how Gray just went along with her crazy story about how they had just moved to a wonderful neighborhood with their 6-month-old son and how they were getting a fresh start on life away from the city. It was even precious how Gray was actually playing with the doll while Cana sat 'cooking' under their table.

"Hey, boy!" one of the younger teen boys called. Gray looked up, still holding the doll by its hand. "What're you doing?" he asked.

"Nothin'," Gray answered hesitantly.

"Really? It looks like you're playin' princess there." The man snickered and took a swig of his beer.

"It's not princess!" Gray yelled, "It's house, dummy!"

"Yeah, sure. What's next? You two gonna play _*hic*_ dress up?" He laughed at the blush on Gray's face and neck.

"Shut up!" Gray shouted. He dropped the doll's hand and balled his hands in to fists. "I'm not a girl!"

"Hey, Laxus, be nice to the kid." One of the older men said, lightly smacking the teen upside the head.

"What, it's not my fault he's being a big baby!" Laxus said, crossing his arms. "Or being a girl…"

"Laxus, stop. He's just a little kid."

"Whatever, Macao…"

"I'm not a little kid!" Gray yelled. Fat tears welled in his eyes and threatened to spill over. _No!_ he thought to himself, _Don't cry in front of them! They think you're a baby!_ Gray grabbed the baby doll's arm and ran back to Cana, throwing it inside and diving onto the mat.

"Gray?"

"I'M NOT A BABY!" he cried into the pillow. Stupid Laxus. Stupid older people. He was nine-years-old! Hardly a baby! He sobbed on the pillow and kicked his feet on the floor.

"Who said you was?" Cana asked, putting a hand on his bare back. It wasn't quite the moment to point out he was only in his undies again.

"Those guys out there!" Gray pointed behind himself and hiccupped through his tears. He hated being called a kid. After everything he'd been through with his parents dying and Ur sacrificing herself he was pretty sure he'd earned the title of definitely-NOT-a-kid-or-baby.

Cana screwed her face in disgust. "Well, you shouldn't listen to them. You were taking care of a baby like a man, none of them could do _that_."

Gray looked up at her, "But it ain't real," he mumbled into the pillow.

"Says who? It's as real as we want it to be, Gray!" Cana fussed, smacking his head. "And I say it _is_ real!" Gray still looked skeptical but had at least stopped crying. "Fine…you were at least taking care of _meeee_ and I know I'm real!"

Gray snickered and sat up, "Says who?" Cana huffed and pushed him over, climbing on him and tickling his sides.

"Says me!" she yelled, fingers wiggling across the boy's abdomen and under his arms. "Does this not seem real?!" She laughed as Gray squirmed and kicked trying to get away.

"This is husband abuse!" Gray managed to say between laughs. He wiggled free from under Cana and grabbed the doll, "No more!" He laughed and ran out from under the table. Cana chased him, laughing.

"Get back here!" she yelled.

"NOOOO!" Gray screamed, spinning around and running backwards. He stuck out his tongue and spun back around, running behind the bar and back out. Cana went around and was able to catch him. He screeched in surprise. Cana giggled and let him go, taking Jack away from him.

"Dinner's ready, Honey!" Cana said, walking back to their home as if nothing had just happened. Gray followed and snatched a box to use as their dining table. They ate the pretend dinner and Cana fed Jack his share before putting him to bed. They cleaned up the dishes and got rid of the dining table because it took up too much room.

"I'm going to bed!" Gray announced in his scruffiest voice, scratching his belly. He flopped down on the mat and shut his eyes. Cana yawned and decided that a nap was a great idea. She laid down beside Gray, resting her head on the unoccupied half of their pillow.

An hour passed and no one had heard a peep out of either child. It was starting to be concerning, really. No laughing or snickering, no squeals or tears. No nothing. Wakaba got up from his position at the bar and went to look for the kids. They weren't in the storage room or upstairs; they weren't hidden in the bathroom or outside getting into trouble. Where in the world could they be?

Makarov came in then, a look of irritation on his face. Everyone knew he'd had court that day because of the damage caused by a job a few had taken. So, if he knew that they had somehow lost two children, he'd be even madder. Which was scary. Makarov noticed immediately that something was off. He looked around for the newest member of his guild, figuring perhaps the child had gotten into a fight already.

"Where's Gray?" he asked. Upon further scanning, Cana wasn't there either. "…and where's Cana? What's going on?"

"Um, well…y'see…" Wakaba started. "…We have no clue where they are."

"…HOW DO YOU LOSE CHILDREN?!" Makarov yelled.

"Well we knew where they were when they were making noise but they've been quiet for about an hour…" Macao explained.

Then a loud snore sounded. They all turned to the direction of the noise in surprise. Everyone collectively face-palmed. Makarov looked under the table to see the two children cuddled up close. Gray had his arms around Cana's shoulders and Cana had her face buried in his neck with her hands on his chest. The loud snore had come from Gray if his wide-open mouth was any indication. Their little home was still snug and cozy, undisturbed since no one knew they were even still there.

"Well would you look at that, they get along." Makarov chuckled, all previous irritation gone.

 **OK maybe not my best flow-wise...but these guys have hardly any stories for just them! This was basically off the top of my head with no planning, so I'll probably go back one day and fix it up some. And I might add a few more chapters, just because I love this pair.**

 **Review and tell me what you thought! Anything that needs some tweaking, please let me know!**


	2. Puppy and Lip Gloss

After a week of Gray being at the guild it was safe to say he and Cana were best friends. The two were seemingly joined at the hip and had set up a permanent 'home' under their table for playing house. The baby doll Gray originally chose was now spending its time in the crib-box unless they were playing. Cana and Gray had other games, obviously. There was _Puppy_ , _Space Ship_ , and normal games like hide-n-seek or _Doggy Where's Your Bone?_ Out of all their games, _Puppy_ was Cana's favorite because they both pretended to be dogs. They had bowls to drink and eat from and their 'home' was transformed into a dog house. Though, they didn't spend much time in the dog house because they were too busy running around on their hands and feet or barking at the other guild members. They sure had lots of fun.

Until Gray didn't show up at normal time!

"Where is he?" Cana asked no one in particular one morning. It had been half an hour since she got to the guild. She was used to seeing Gray eating breakfast at their table when she walked in but this morning he was nowhere in sight. Cana asked some others if Gray had shown up but everyone said they hadn't seen him. Clearly upset, Cana plopped onto her seat and sunk her face into her hands. The guild was so boring without her buddy!

"Somebody looks upset," a voice said from behind Cana.

"Evergreen!" Cana called, surprise in her voice. Evergreen hardly ever spoke to anyone so seeing her talking was quite the sight.

"Where's the little boy you always pal around with?" Evergreen asked.

Cana looked down and shook her head. "He hasn't been here all morning…"

Evergreen sat down beside Cana with a lime green bag in hand. "Well he probably overslept or something. Wanna surprise him when he gets here?"

It was a strange question, one Cana didn't know how to answer. She nodded slowly and watched as Evergreen took a few items out of her bag. It was a few vibrantly colored plastic tubes and cases. "Makeup?"

"Uh-huh. I'm going to give you a makeover," Evergreen explained.

Cana beamed and adjusted her sitting position. The older girl told her to close her eyes. Evergreen put silver eyeshadow on Cana's eyelids and mascara on her already-long lashes. She put blusher on her cheeks, making them a light rose color. Then it was lip-gloss time. The shiny gloss tasted a bit like apples and glittered in the light.

Evergreen leaned back and pulled out a mirror. "All done," she announced.

Cana opened her eyes and met her reflection. "Pretty," she gasped, smiling at her own face.

"You like it?"

"I love it! Thank you, Evergreen!" Cana laughed. She wanted hug her, but figured that would be pushing it with the normally anti-social girl.

"No problem, squirt." Evergreen smiled and put her makeup supplies away. She got up and left Cana alone yet again.

Cana decided to doodle while she waited for her _very, very late_ friend. Not ten minutes passed, however, before the doors opened to reveal a very worried Gray.

"Cana!" he yelled and ran over to her, "I'm sorry! I overslept and then there was a kitty and then some old lady started yellin' at me and-" he paused in his explanation when he noticed something was off about Cana's look. "What did you do?" he asked, pointing to her new makeup.

Cana smiled, glad he actually noticed. "Like it? Evergreen did my makeup since I was _alone_ with _no one_ to play with," Cana explained. She hopped down and posed with one hand on her hip and the other behind her head. She winked and pursed her lips as well, thoroughly enjoying being a little girly for once.

Gray's eyes narrowed and he examined the changes. "Your mouth looks sticky," he criticized.

Cana scowled, turning away from him, "What do you know, streaker!" Stupid Gray. He wouldn't know pretty if it slapped him upside the head.

"Whatever," he waved her off and played cool. "We should play _Puppy_ ," he suggested. Cana dropped the angry-act and agreed. They dropped on all fours and ran around together. Gray froze the floor for them to glide around on, which was difficult to do well while bare foot. The game was over was over when they decided they were hungry. Neither child really wanted to eat their lunch out of a bowl with no hands or utensils. Gray brought over their food and set it down while Cana giggled at him.

"Clothes, Gray." Cana said to his very confused expression.

"GAH!"

He would've gone looking for his shirt and pants if a dog didn't come running inside the guild hall. Everyone looked toward it when it barked. The dog's fur was matted and a few patches were missing around its paws. Other than that and the obvious under-feeding the dog appeared okay to the kids.

"Doggy!" they screeched, dashing over to pet it.

"Careful you two!" Macao warned.

Cana rolled her eyes at the man and stuck down a hand to pet the pup. It looked up at her and growled. The dog snapped at her and barked. Cana froze in fear which opened the dog up to tackle her to the floor. She screamed and wiggled under its paws and snapping teeth. The dog attempted to bite her but Cana was able to squirm farther under it and shield her face.

"Cana!" Gray cried. Everyone jumped to their feet, ready to save the girl. Gray grabbed the dog's shoulders and pulled, yanking the animal back. He stood in front of Cana protectively.

The dog foamed at the mouth and growled. Gray stood his ground, even trying to growl himself.

"Gray get away from it!" someone yelled. He screamed a firm 'no!' that seemed to set the animal off again.

It charged at him. "Ice Make: Shield!" A small wall of ice formed in front of him, knocking the dog back just in time. "Ice Make: Cage!" Gray jumped up and formed a kennel over the animal. It jumped at the ice and gnawed on it but was unable to get out. Some of the older guild members got the dog outside and away from the younger kids so they could dispose of it before causing any more harm. Gray helped Cana to her feet, grinning ear-to-ear.

"What're you so happy about?" Cana asked, brushing off dirt and hair from her dress.

Gray beamed brightly, "I just saved you. And it was cool. Why wouldn't I be happy?" He rocked back and forth on his heels, ego sky-rocketing at that moment.

Cana rolled her eyes. Then a thought popped in her head of how to bring him down from Cloud 9. "My hero," she swooned, wrapping her arms around Gray's neck and planting a kiss on his cheek. She released the stunned boy and skipped back to their table with a smirk on her face.

Wakaba came up behind Gray and chuckled, "Great job protecting your girlfriend," he teased.

Gray blushed bright and quickly spun around to face the older man, "She's not my girlfriend!" he insisted quite loudly.

Wakaba laughed, "Tell that to the kiss mark on your cheek." He walked off, ruffling Gray's midnight black hair. Gray blushed harder and rubbed at his face violently in a desperate attempt to get the lip-gloss off his cheek.

Cana was NOT his girlfriend! Blech! Why would she kiss him like that? Gray crossed his arms and walked back to her with his lower lip stuck out in a pout.

"What's wrong with you, streaker?" Cana asked. She loved picking on him, and it was quite easy to do, surprisingly.

"Jeez, I dunno! Might have somethin' to do with the fact you kissed me!" Gray fussed. He sat on the table and refused to turn his head in Cana's direction.

"Only on the cheek, you big baby." Cana rolled her eyes and sipped her juice box. "Why do you care about it, anyway?"

"Because they all think you's my girlfriend now!"

"And that's a bad thing because…?"

"Cana!" Gray dropped to the floor and crawled under the table and laid down on the mat, taking to pouting rather than explaining his embarrassment any farther.

Cana looked under the table at the curled up boy and sighed. He was such a baby. She slipped under the table and landed on top of him, moving silently off and sitting beside him. "I'm sorry, Gray…" she mumbled, raking a hand through his hair.

"It's OK…" he replied, scooting over and placing his head on her lap. She giggled and poked at his face, making Gray laugh. "Stop!" he pleaded when she tickled under his chin and his underarms.

"Whatever, boyfriend," Cana snickered.

"You're weird, Cana…" Gray laughed.

"Says the one who got freaked out by a kiss on the cheek."

 **There, normal length for me. Also half of what the first chapter was...chapter lengths will vary depending on what ever idea is in my head...**

 **Anyway, you guys can leave suggestions if there is something you wanna see these two cuties do together!**


	3. Wedding Day

Gray sunk down in his seat on the pew, tugging on the hem of his ice blue dress shirt and swinging his legs forcefully. The Cathedral he was currently very bored in was large and decorative with stained glass windows and full bouquets of roses on the ends of the pews. The whole guild was there for a wedding between two members. The families of these two members as well as other friends were there as well, making the place quite noisy yet still very stuffy and boring. Music started playing softly and every head turned toward the back as the bride made her way down the aisle.

Cana's breath caught when she saw the bride, startling Gray slightly. He leaned over her shoulder to see better, though to him there was nothing spectacular about the lady since she was in a long white dress. It would've been way better if the bride came in on horseback or something cooler!

At the front, the pastor began reading out the vows. Cana snatched up Gray's hand, bringing it to her face and squeezing it tightly for the duration of the ceremony. The newlyweds kissed. Gray groaned and rolled his eyes; Cana squealed, jumping up and clapping with the rest of the attendees. She yanked Gray out of his seat while the couple made their way out of the church.

"Alright, c'mon you two," Makarov called to the two children, "it's reception time!"

Gray perked up slightly. If he remembered correctly, reception meant food. He grabbed Cana's hand and ran out the door after their master, hoping for a slightly interesting dinner with maybe even a food fight!

* * *

"This is dumb," Gray complained, shoving a chicken nugget in his mouth. The bride and groom were opening their presents. Gray and Cana were sat with the other three children that were actually in the wedding. But it seemed Gray was the only one that wasn't into this whole girly ceremony. "When's it over?" he asked Cana, tugging on the short sleeve of her heather-grey dress.

"Just a little longer, hush!" Cana answered, annoyed that Gray hadn't stopped complaining since they got their food. "Just cake and waving them bye-bye, OK?"

Gray sat back, tossing himself against his chair. "I don't get this stupid thing. It's boring."

The newlyweds got up and cut the cake. It wasn't even good cake. It was some sort of pink cake with red splotches all in it. Gray left most of the desert on his plate, opting to scrape the buttercream off the top and eat it instead.

Everyone started getting up and running out the door. Cana grabbed Gray's hand and yanked him out the door after them. All the women stood behind the bride giggling and grinning. Cana joined them, standing closer to the front so she wouldn't be crushed which left Gray standing alone to watch their display. The bride threw her bouquet over her shoulder and the women all scrambled to catch it. One orange-haired lady held the flowers up in triumph, and the tiny thrill was over.

Gray rolled his eyes as Cana skipped back over to his side and linked their arms together at the elbow. "Why do you like weddings so much, Cana?" Gray asked, watching as people threw rice and the married couple ran out to the carriage that would be taking them to their honeymoon spot.

"Because they're so pretty! Big puffy dresses, tuxes, flowers! How do you not like it?!" Cana explained, twirling slightly with her own dress in admiration.

"It's boring! All we did was watch two people kiss and lotsa other people we don't know cry." Gray wrinkled his nose at the memory, not paying attention to Cana squeezing his arm harder.

"Well maybe if it was you being married, you could appreciate it more!"

"Why would I wanna do 'at?" Gray snickered at Cana's puffed cheeks. He knew she wasn't actually mad at his for saying that, or else he would have already been slapped across the face.

"So you'd have a wife who could take care of you and you could take care of her and you could have a family!" Cana explained in one breath, jumping in place and leaning on Gray.

"Icky," was all Gray said, smirking at the death glare his best friend sent him.

"You hafta get married one day!" Cana fussed, punching Gray lightly.

He laughed, trying to block her tiny fists. "OK, fine!" Cana ceased her punching. "Only if I marry you, though!"

The girl blushed, "Why me?!"

"Cause you's the only girl I like," Gray answered. "You're actually cool and you're my best friend. Marrying is for best friends, right?"

Cana giggled, "Kinda, yeah…"

* * *

A week later at the guild things had returned to normal. Cana and Gray had gone back to playing and practicing their magic while the other guild members all went on quests and tried to pick fights with each other.

However, one day a new girl showed up. She was tiny, tinier than any girl Gray had ever seen. Her blue hair was cut very short, not coming past her ears, and let the arms of her ruby red glasses show behind her ears. The little girl made her way over to Gray and Cana's table to greet them, "Hi!" she started, catching Cana's attention. The brunette turned to see her grinning face.

"Hi!" Cana greeted, matching the girl's smile with her own. "You're new to the guild, eh?"

The bluenette giggled, "Yup! My name's Levy, by the way."

"I'm Cana. This weirdo is Gray," Cana introduced them, kicking Gray's bare leg with her cold toes.

"Hey," Gray greeted, giving a half-hearted wave to this tiny girl.

Levy snickered, "Um…why are you in your undies?"

"Huh?" Gray looked down, yelping at his pants-less state. He jumped out of his seat and went on a search for his clothes. Somehow they ended up coming off all the way on the other side of the guild hall. When he made his way back over to his best friend and the new chick, he found them giggling together and glancing over at him. "What'chu two talking about…?" he asked in slight concern.

"Oh, it's nothing, Gray!" Cana waved his unease off, snickering at his suddenly reddening face.

"Why don't we all three play a game together!" Levy suggested.

"Sounds good to me, Levy," Cana said, getting down from her seat.

Gray shrugged, "Sure, what d'you wanna play? Puppy?" He stuck his hands in his pockets, leaning his weight on one leg as he waited for the girls to make a decision.

"Ooooor," Levy started, "We can play wedding!" Cana giggled and agreed, holding Levy's hands and blabbing away to the other girl about what all they needed to set up. The two girls took off toward the storage room for boxes and art supplies. Gray rolled his eyes and crawled under the table to their home to take a nap on the mat. This whole two-girls thing was gonna be a big headache, wasn't it?

* * *

"Gray? Gray, wakey-wakey!" Cana shook the boy's shoulders until his eyes fluttered open. "Wedding time, groom!" She crawled out from the table and waited for Gray to get up. She grabbed his wrist and pulled to the back where Levy was waiting. The two girls put the construction paper dress on Cana, which actually ended up looking a lot like a real dress, surprisingly. Then they put the construction paper tux on Gray with quite a bit of protesting and squealing.

"Why do I gotta be the groom?!" Gray giggled, recovering from the tickling that occurred once the girls realized that's why he was squealing so badly.

"Because I'm the pastor!" Levy explained as Cana taped up the side of her own costume, which was the Catholic priest robe like from a real pastor in a real wedding. "I can't play both and Cana says you said you would marry her!" The two girls giggled again and Gray inwardly face-palmed. How had he not figured out that this was planned from the moment he went to find his clothes! _Stupid, stupid!_

"C'mon, you guys! We gotta get started!" Cana pulled both other children out the door to the makeshift wedding arch set up against a wall. Levy stood on the bucket that was covered in black construction paper and grabbed a copy of _Canterbury Tales_ to use as her wedding book. Cana and Gray stood across from each other, holding hands while Gray awkwardly looked anywhere but at the girls.

"Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to uh…join these two in holy matching-money!" Levy couldn't quite remember the words, but those were close, right? "Uh…do you, Cana, take Gray to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, for better or for worst, in sickness or in health. 'Til death do you part?"

"I do," Cana grinned, looking at the other girl then back to her best friend.

"And do you, Gray, take Cana to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, for better or for worst, in sickness or in health. 'Til death do you part?"

"Sure," Gray shrugged.

"You gotta say 'I do', Gray," Cana fussed, pursing her lips.

"Oh, Sure I do," Gray tried, looking at both girls for confirmation.

Levy took it, nodding dramatically. "Then you guys are now married!" she squealed, hopping in place on her bucket. "Gray, you gotta kiss her now."

"I'm not kissing her! Blech!" Gray leaned away from Cana, taking his hands back and wrapping them around his chin.

"You have to! It's tradition!" Levy fussed, smacking him on top of the head repeatedly.

"OK, fine!" Gray made it quick, leaning over and pecking Cana's lips ever so lightly before pulling back and returning his arms to their previous position, his face burning bright red.

Cana laughed, her own face turning slightly pink. "Was that so bad, Gray?" she teased, resting her hands on his hips.

"Yes," Gray mumbled between his elbows, plopping down on his bottom to pout.

 **I still did just about half the length of chapter one! I'm not good at writing longer things! Anyway, don't think that I forgot about this story! I was just trying to figure out how I wanted to write this one, which was actually kind of hard. I wasn't sure if I wanted to add in the other guild members yet but I ended up putting Levy in because I love Levy she is my precious little wife. So the next chapter might have the Strauss's joining them.**

 **Anyway, review and tell me what you thought! I'm always open to suggestions as well!**


	4. New Best Buddy?

"WAHHHH!" Levy cried loudly from under what was dubbed the kid's table. Big fake tears nestled in the corners of her eyes and her loud gasps of air had the older members of Fairy Tail extremely concerned. Macao made his way over, crouching down to look under the table. Cana grabbed a pacifier and jammed it in the younger girl's mouth, calming the fake crying instantly.

"There, there, baby…" Cana cooed, rubbing the other girl's back slightly. "No need to cry." She looked up to see a very confused Macao and grinned widely, "Hi, Macao!"

"What are you doing?" he asked, trying to understand what exactly was going on.

"Just playin' house! Levy's the baby, 'M the mommy, and Gray's the daddy," Cana explained. Gray rolled over from his position on the nap mat and scratched his tummy, waving half-heartedly at the older man and grunting.

"So you're OK, Levy? Nothing's wrong?" Macao asked the little bluenette. Levy nodded her head and held up a thumbs-up to assure that she was fine.

"Kids these days, eh? They cry 'nd cry 'bout nothin'," Gray said gruffly. He sat up and rubbed Levy's hair roughly, making the girl whimper.

"Gray, you're hurting her!" Cana fussed, pulling Levy closer to herself and hugging her head.

"No I wasn't! She's just fine, right Levy?"

Levy hugged Cana, never letting go of the binky between her lips. " 'M OK now…" she mumbled. Gray crossed his arms pouting, looking away. Macao chuckled at them, standing up and walking away shaking his head. Gray grabbed a crayon box off the 'kitchen counter' and took one (gently used) lollipop stick out, jamming into his mouth like a cigarette.

"Stupid girls…" he grumbled, laying down and crossing his legs to tangle his toes in Cana's hair.

Cana gasped, "Gray!" She snatched the stick from his lips, "You shouldn't smoke! Especially around a little one!"

"There ain't nothing wrong with it, woman! Builds character!" Gray laughed. Sometimes the things they came up with were too much to keep a straight face for.

"Googoo!" Levy added, fussing at her 'father' as well.

"I think you need help," Cana said, crossing her arms. "It's time for the patch!"

Gray's face dropped, "NOOOO! Anything but _that!_ " he wailed, slamming his fists on the floor.

"You leave me know choice!" Cana giggled. Gray crawled towards her, tackling Cana to the floor and tickling her. "You're not gonna make me cha-aaange my mi-ind!" she laughed, squirming under Gray's fingers.

"Mommy!" Levy laughed, scooting closer to try and get Gray off. He pushed her gently over and tickled her as well. Gray didn't quite know all of Levy's tickle-spots yet so he just went for her underarms and feet. "Nooooo-wah!" she laughed, dropping the pacifier out of her mouth.

"My baby!" Cana laughed, tackling Gray, "Don't hurt my baby!" She tickled his sides in revenge. Levy got up and made her way to his toes, causing Gray to kick and roar in laughter.

"N-no fair!" Gray fussed, pushing at their hands to try and get away.

"Say you won't smoke! Or be mean to our baby!" Cana offered as a way to get the boy out of his predicament.

"I-I promise! No more!" His laughter died off when the girls retreated. He looked up at them and their beaming faces, "You guys are the mean ones."

"Oh puh- _lease_." Cana stood up and went to the bar to get a few sodas for the three of them. When she came back she passed the drinks out, "If I'm a meanie then why did I bring you an orange soda?" Gray rolled his eyes but accepted the drink and sipped on it while the girls went on and on about whatever it was girls talked about, Gray tuned them out after "ooh Cana I got a really pretty hair clip you would look cute with!"

The boy laid down across the table with a comic book in hand. He was careful to not lay on Levy's glasses for fear of crushing them. The girls played a little dress up, doing each other's hair and making more dresses from construction paper (it seemed to be a hobby they were both adopting and Gray was content to not question it so long as they didn't make him wear one). Gray was kind of upset by the edition of Levy, if he was honest with himself. She was taking Cana away from him slowly, since she was a girl. They always wanted to do girly stuff together that Gray did not want to do at all. So, he ended up sitting out play-time or watching them. At this point he was re-reading comic books because he had nothing better to do while the girls played. And it was really boring.

As he was starting to doze off, Cana called for him. "Gray! What're you doing?" The girl hopped up on the table beside him. Her hair dangled over his face, tickling his nose. He flinched away and she sat up slightly. "Why aren't you playing?"

"You guys were…" he mumbled, refusing to look in the girl's eyes. Cana flinched inwardly, what did he mean by that? "I just don't wanna play girly games…" Gray explained, turning away from Cana's face.

"Well you should've said something! We could play something else!" Cana fussed, punching Gray's arms lightly.

"I didn't wanna make you upset or anything! You guys were having fun by yourselves I didn't wanna be the reason you weren't having fun…" Gray explained, blushing brightly.

"Oh, Gray don't feel bad!" Cana pulled him into a hug, tugging the boy into her lap as best as she could. "Besides, it's not as fun without you with us…"

"You mean it?" Gray mumbled into her neck, fighting off the tears caught in his throat.

"Of course! We couldn't figure out why you weren't playin' with us…we thought you were mad at us for some reason…"

"Why would I be mad?!" Gray laughed, tugging Cana's ponytail gently.

"Hey, guys?" Levy called quietly. She shuffled her feet and shifted from side-to-side. The older two children looked down at her. Levy held up a book, whose cover read _Charlotte's Web_. "Wanna hear a story…?"

Both of them broke out in huge smiles, nodding and jumping down from the table, slightly startling the tinier girl.

* * *

Much of the guild had gathered around to listen to Levy read. Several of them couldn't read themselves and others just wanted to listen to a good story. Levy loved reading, especially aloud. She was excellent at coming up with voices for characters on the spot. Her bright red glasses were perched on her nose and her hair was tucked sloppily behind her ear to be out of her face. Everyone sat around her in a circle to listen, even Makarov. She read in a way that captures everyone's attentions easily and kept their attentions, even when Gray started dosing off.

When she finished, everyone was telling her how well she read and patting her on the back. Once they had all gotten up and left, Cana and Gray told her how well she read.

"Thanks, guys…though it was kinda scary. I wasn't expecting everyone to wanna hear it!"

"Well, I couldn't tell if you was nervous!" Gray reassured. "Ya did better than I could ever do, that's for sure." He nodded, offering a friendly smile.

"Thanks, Gray," Levy blushed, looking to Cana for a hug.

"But you gonna tell me why it had to be _spiders_?!"

The girls laughed, shaking their heads at the boy. "That's just what it was, Gray…" Levy answered, giggling at the pouting boy.

 **So I decided to wait on the Strauss's for a chapter and do a little something else with Levy. Because I love her. As you guys seem to, too. Anyway, how would you guys like to see the Strauss's put in? Lemme know!**

 **Review and tell me your thoughts! Also I am blaming an errors and weird phrasing in this chapter on the fact that I was getting sicker and sicker as I wrote this...**


	5. Strauss Stress

It had been a week since the Strauss kids arrived at Fairy Tail. Gray easily made friends with Elfman, deciding that he wanted to help him get stronger and tougher. Cana and Levy instantly took to Lisanna, dressing the little girl up and making an official girls-only club that Gray despised. However, neither Gray nor Cana had the guts to try and play with Mirajane who, though she looked nice and sweet at first glance, was actually very, _very_ mean.

"She's not that bad, though…" Lisanna explained one day while Cana nursed the bruise on Gray's cheek. "She isn't normally that mean…" the little girl sniffled, trying to not cry because of her sister's own actions.

"Then why is she like that with everybody? She called me a sissy-midget the other day!" Levy questioned, still not quite sure why she was being compared to a midget when she still had growing to do.

Elfman hopped up on the table they all sat at, deciding to answer Levy for his sister. "She's just scared. Mira would never admit it, but that's what wrong with her…ever since Momma and Dad died she's closed herself off…She got really mean, too. Sorry about that…"

From the other side of the guild they could hear Mirajane yelling before her fist slammed into a table and cracked the splintering wood. Her siblings jumped into action, running over to her side with the other three children on their heels.

"Sister! What's wrong?" Lisanna asked in concern, grabbing her oldest sibling's wrist. Mirajane shook and trembled, struggling to breathe. "Mira!" Lisanna yelped, shaking her sister at the shoulders.

"L-Lisanna…maybe you shouldn't do that…" Elfman pulled his younger sister back some, holding her close while Mira's breakdown progressed.

"Is she OK?" Cana asked, hoping for a yes.

"Not sure." Well that's nice.

Gray's eyes narrowed and fists clenched. He strode over to the side of Mira, who just side glanced at him, teeth gritted and a hiss passing her lips. The little boy lifted one iced-over hand before bringing across the 10-year-old girl's face, flinging her back against another table. Everyone gasped, turning to face the two.

Mirajane's head snapped up at Gray, eyes locked in daggers, "How DARE you?!" she screamed, getting up and punching him straight in the gut. Gray fell down hard, hitting his head on the floor. "What is WRONG with you, you ice cube!"

Gray clutched his stomach, choking back the tears he desperately wanted to release. One sob slipped past his lips, betraying him. Mira smirked, strutting past him and making sure to step one heavy boot on his hair. Once she was gone, the slam of a door assuring this, Gray let his cries free. He cried loudly, hiccupping and groaning with the pain of her demon-powered punch.

"Gray!" Cana yelped, falling to knees beside the boy. He rolled over to curl against her knees, crying into the fabric of her mint colored dressed. "Oh, Gray…" Cana whispered, stroking his hair comfortingly.

"Why did you slap her?" Lisanna asked, her own tears falling down her cheeks.

Once Gray was able to speak, he forced out the words, "Sh-she was losing c-control…I just snapped her out of i-it…"

Most of the room went back to its normal clatter and noise, leaving the unusually quiet children to process what Gray had done. Cana and Levy helped him back to his feet, walking with Gray back to their table and letting him crawl under on the nap mat. Cana laid beside him while Levy pulled out _If You Give a Pig a Pancake_ to read to her friends. Everything went back to normal for a while, all action dying down to nothing.

Mirajane did come back out to her siblings, who attempted to explain to her what Gray had done. It seemed that Mira didn't even know that she had started freaking out until she was slapped. She rubbed her bandaged and bloody knuckles subconsciously.

"Maybe you should apologize to him, Mira," Elfman suggested, rubbing his sister's back. She sighed dramatically, dropping her head to her knees and rubbing at her legs, which were drawn up to her chest.

"Yeah, he's not bad, Mira. Maybe you can be friends with him like me and Elfman?" Lisanna added, taking Mira's non-splintered hand and linking their fingers.

"I'll apologize, but I'm not being buddies with that streaker, you can forget it!" Mira said, uncoiling and getting off the tabletop she was perched on. Her younger siblings grinned, happy that she was going to say sorry.

The Strauss family walked over to the usual table of Gray and Co. The three were playing…some weird game. Gray was on all fours yapping and jumping while Cana barked back at him and Levy laid on her back twisting around and letting her tongue hang out of her mouth. Their playing seized when Mirajane hovered behind Gray with her arms crossed.

Gray turned around and shrunk back, edging away from Mira as well as he could. "What'chu want?" he snapped.

"Look," Mira gritted her teeth, wanting ever so much to punch him the face for that tone. "Elfman and Lisanna explained why you slapped me. So. I'm sorry." Those last two words were mumbled, but heard nonetheless.

Gray arched an eyebrow, not sure whether or not to trust her. Mira extended a hand to him, which he hesitantly took. She yanked him to his feet, giving him a short hug. The surprised look on his face meant he needed explanation, which Mira delivered with a huff. "I know it was probably scary to see a breakdown like that…it happens when monsters you've taken over try to overtake you…I saw it happen to my dad once and couldn't do anything because I was too scared. So, that was a thanks."

Gray nodded, smiling slightly at the older girl. "No problem."

"Just don't go thinking we're friends now!" Mira shouted, walking off to the other side of the guild with her brother and sister trailing after her.

"Wow," both Levy and Cana said at the same time, before sharing a smirk and pouncing on Gray squealing "Gray's got a girlfriend!"

He squirmed and wriggled under their weights, "Ack! Never, she's not my girlfriend you crazies!" he squawked. They let him up, giggling behind their hands. Gray shook his head, crossing his arms and turning his head from the two weird girls. "This place needs more boys…" he mumbled, looking over at Elfman. "More boys that don't have sisters…"

* * *

Of course over the next week it seemed that Mira was opening up more to Gray. She brought the boy a muffin one morning, saying she and Lisanna had made them the night before and they had extras so she thought he would like one. Mirajane also sparred with him and made it quite challenging because of her takeover magic. But perhaps the weirdest part of her opening up to him was the fact that he _liked it_. Mira wasn't that girlie, unlike Cana and Levy. She didn't mind getting dirty or scuffed up and didn't complain about her dresses being ruined – that of course probably had something to do with the fact that she didn't even wear dresses.

"So, Nakey," Mira started when the two were walking back to the guild with the groceries Makarov sent them after. Gray huffed at the nickname, rolling his eyes. "What's the status on you and Cana?"

Gray groaned. Why did everyone bring that up?! "She's my best friend," Gray answered simply, nodding at his own response.

Mirajane snickered at his side, dropping his hand to tighten her ponytail. "I think that's a flat lie," she said, grabbing his hand back.

Gray blushed, puffing his cheeks, "Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Well for starters you're always together-"

"So are you and your brother 'nd sister!" Gray countered defensively.

Mira giggled and continued, "You guys always play games where you two are either married or mates. Also, you let her kiss you all the time."

Gray rolled his eyes at the last answer. Yeah, he let Cana kiss his cheeks because he had given up pushing her away. Levy had started doing it too and at this point he just didn't care. Though, now he had to wonder…why did those two always do that? And why was Cana always so insistent on it?

Mira smirked seeing the wheels turning in Gray's head. It was funny to watch him figure out things, considering he was kind of slow when it came to girls. Though, she honestly did think the two were a little couple when she first saw them. Then that Levy chick came over and was hugging him and confused Mira. "Would you want her to be your girlfriend?" Mirajane asked, leaning forward some to get a better look at Gray's face.

He turned his head away from her, feeling a blush creep up his neck. "I dunno…girls are icky," he mumbled.

"You do realize I'm a girl, right?" Mira said. He hung his head and swung their joined hands slightly. "Fine…" she sighed. "But I bet that Cana likes you and wants you to be her boyfriend."

"Hey!" Gray yelped, "No she doesn't!"

"Oh, please, you have to be blind to not see it, Nakey!" Mira laughed. Gray halted them in the middle of the road.

"Shut up! Cana don't like me like that 'nd Levy don't like me like that 'nd nobody does!" Gray cried. "It's gross and dumb and nobody should halfta do that!"

Now THAT surprised Mirajane. She just wanted to push his buttons, not break the control panel. She crouched down on the dirt path and looked Gray in the eyes, concern washing over her face. "Gray?" He looked at her, wiping his nose and eyes with the back of his hand. "I was just teasing you, OK? You don't have to like anybody if you don't want to, you know that?"

It was the first time Gray could remember someone saying anything like that. When he was little he remembered his momma and daddy saying how he was 'such a lady's man' and how he'd make some girl very happy one day. As far as he knew he was supposed to like a girl and want to marry her so the girl would be happy. That's all he knew. Now, here was Mirajane telling him the opposite. He couldn't help but let out a shaky sigh and hug the older girl.

Mira froze. What was she supposed to do? Hug him back? That's what she did, patting his (luckily clothed) back. He pulled away and blushed, picking up the basket of groceries and taking her hand back. They walked a little more toward the guild in silence. There was no goofing around and shoving, just a comfortable quiet.

Suddenly Gray piped up, "I might kind of like Cana one day…MAYBE."

Mira looked down at him and chuckled, "Whatever ya wanna believe, Snow Cone."

When they got back in the guild, Mira took the basket to Makarov while Gray went to join Cana and Levy and the other two Strauss kids. He slid into his seat between Cana and Levy, who each planted a wet kiss on the cheek closest to them.

"Blech!" Gray rubbed the kisses off his face, making the two girls at his sides giggle.

"Jeez, Gray." Mira sauntered over, plopping down between her siblings, "Why you gotta be such a womanizer?"

"What is that?"

 **I need to stop picking on Gray...nahhhh. Also, I like writing Mirajane, this is fun. And yes, next up to pick on Gray and Cana will be Erza. I know some of you are waiting for that.**

 **Review and tell me what you thought of this! If there's anything you would like to see, lemme know!**


	6. Girls Are Weird

Ah, Magnolia Park. The one place in the town where magic could not be performed. Mainly because the wizards at Fairy Tail were always so reckless and many parents feared their children would get caught between fire or electricity or any sort of attack so the mayor had the park protected against any sort of magic use. It was mid-autumn, just too cold for a normal person to get away with not wearing a jacket and jeans. Of course, this didn't include Gray.

Gray Fullbuster was in long shorts and a t-shirt, not really sure why everyone was shivering when the wind picked up. It wasn't that cold to him, really. Cana fussed at him for not being clothed more, but he had learned at this point to shrug off her concerns.

"Really, Cana! It ain't even that cold out here!" Gray groaned when the girl tried to cuddle against his side with her hands jammed in her coat pockets. Her hair was down and draped over her shoulders, which made her a little warmer, luckily.

"Well maybe not to you, Mr. Ice Cube…" Cana complained, linking their arms. They plopped down in some swings, swinging up high and wind-burning their faces. Once he was up high enough, Gray yanked his arm free and jumped, landing roughly on the ground.

"Gray! You OK?" Lisanna ran over, helping the boy to his feet and checking his knees and elbows for injuries. "Oh! You've got a boo-boo on your elbow!" The 8-year-old took his hand and pulled him over to Makarov's table where the first-aid kit was. She cleaned up his arm and put a bandaid on it, kissing it once the scrape was covered up. "All better!"

Gray smiled, nodding. "Thanks, Lisanna," he said, ruffling her hair. She grinned and fixed her hair, smothering her light blush with a delicate small hand.

"Hey, Gray!" Levy called, catching the boy's attention, "C'mere, I found somethin' really cool!" She waved and ran off. Gray ran over, not sure if he trusted Levy to have found something actually cool, but he could humor her. Once he caught up, he saw the little bluenette standing in front of him holding up a frog.

"Whoa!" Gray giggled, crouching down in front the frog and tapping its head, making the animal ribbit. "Where'd you find 'im?" Gray asked, trying extremely hard to not smile as wide as his face could.

"He was hopping along this trail and started following me around. I thought you'd wanna see him since he's all slimey…" Levy explained, handing the frog to Gray and wiping her hands on her knit tights. Gray lifted the frog above his head and poked at its belly, laughing at the noises the animal made and how it tried to jump on him. Levy giggled at him, blushing when Gray spoke.

"You should kiss 'im," Gray teased, shoving the frog at Levy's face.

"W-what!" Levy backed up, "That's gross!" She ran off when Gray started edging closer, letting him chase her with the amphibian. "Gray, no!" She laughed, running behind Elfman and using the boy as a sort of human shield. "Help! Gray's tryin' to make me kiss it!"

"Why?" Elfman asked, "Is it a person?"

Gray snickered, "Nah, it'd just be funny!"

"No it wouldn't be!" Levy cried, linking arms with Cana when she came over to see what was making Levy so hysterical.

"Gray, stop teasing poor Levy!" Cana fussed, hugging the little girl close.

"Psh, she started it…" Gray grumbled, dropping the frog and letting it hop off toward its original destination.

"Why did you give him a frog in the first place, Levy?" Lisanna asked, hugging Gray's arm. Gray smirked, knowing at least one person was on his side.

"I didn't know he was gonna chase me with it! I just wanted him to see the froggy!" Levy cried. Elfman smiled, realizing what was going on. This was kind of cute. Levy, being the smart little girl she was, had to have realized Gray would try and tease her if given an easy opportunity. Surely she planned on him chasing her? And she was not running very fast…

Did Levy _like_ Gray?

And then there was Lisanna…she was practically hanging off of him and she constantly tried to baby him…Did she like him too?

"Well Gray's a meanie so obviously he was gonna pick on ya…" Cana said, smacking Gray's forehead.

"Ow! And you say I'm the meanie?" Gray whined, crossing his arms and yanking the one away from Lisanna.

"You're not a meanie, Gray," Lisanna cooed. Cana rolled her eyes and grabbed Gray by the elbow, pulling him along toward the slides. Levy stomped off toward the new kids Jet and Droy, hoping maybe they would let her play with them. Lisanna sighed and hopped up beside her brother on a park bench. "Why does Cana always win…" she pouted, crossing her arms and slumping down.

Elfman held in a snicker, shaking his head. All _three_ of the girls liked Gray.

* * *

Lunchtime came and everyone was grabbing food and plopping down in the grass under trees. Gray and Cana were sat side-by-side as usual with Levy, Jet, and Droy across from them, blabbing away about stories and why Levy would never kiss an icky frog. The Strauss siblings weren't too far away, sat with Laxus, Evergreen, Freed, and Bickslow, who were more interested in talking to Mirajane. Evergreen took a liking to Elfman and talked his ear off about fairies vs pixies, which he didn't care about, really.

Lisanna watched Gray and Cana, who were practically cuddling. Cana was leaned against Gray with her juice in hand and plate in her lap. Gray had his cheek rested on Cana's head and his arm stuck between her side and elbow so he could pick up his food. Levy looked slightly upset, but found it hard to pay attention when Jet was trying – and failing – to catch Goldfish in his mouth.

"Lis?" Mira called, snapping her fingers in front of her baby sister's face. Lisanna looked up at her big sister, blushing when she realized she had been caught staring. Mirajane giggled, "Somebody's love struck."

"N-no I'm not!" Lisanna insisted loudly. The others all looked over, which flustered her even farther.

"You OK, Lisanna?" Gray asked, "You look sick…"

"I'm fine!" she squeaked, covering her face. Cana crawled over and hugged the girl close, letting her calm down. Levy scooted closer and patted Lisanna's back, offering support. All three girls had told each other about their feelings and had proclaimed to be each other's 'love rival' but that didn't mean they had to be heartless when one of them wasn't having very good luck.

"Y'all are acting weird…" Gray commented, stuffing one of Cana's pretzels in his mouth.

"Hush!" Cana fussed, letting Levy in on the hug. Lisanna held onto their arms and looked at Gray, who held a very confused look.

Mira crawled over to his side, crossing her legs and tossing an arm over his shoulder. She whispered in his ear, explaining that it seemed he was in the middle of a sort of love parallelogram. He huffed and blushed, shoving more pretzels in his mouth instead of dealing with this new information. Mirajane giggled, ruffling his hair. "You'll be OK, Nakey…I think."

"Thanks…" he mumbled, bringing his legs up to his chest, "But will they be?"

"Who knows…" They both laughed, watching as Cana murmured at Levy and made the little girl blush brightly. The older teens rolled their eyes at the younger kids, finding it ridiculous the trio was having such an issue over _Gray_. Mira pecked Gray's face and got up, taking the cleaned plates to a trashcan.

"OW!" Levy cried when she landed on her knee in a small fight that had erupted with Cana and Lisanna. "I-it hurts…" She seethed and cradled the knee, blowing on it to try and take the sting out.

"You OK?" Gray asked, squatting beside her to look. There was a little blood, mostly just two little lines of it, and flaked off skin around a very red and pink area. A small bruise was already forming off to the side of the scrapes and Levy's fat tears were beginning to soak the area with saltiness. "I'll get you a bandaid…" Gray ran off and came back quickly, wiping off the blood with a tissue and putting the bandaid on her knee.

"Thanks, Gray…" Levy wiped her eyes and put on a smile. Gray grinned back. "…You should kiss it better…" Gray wrinkled his brow, not quite sure about the effectiveness of a kiss as medicine. But, he knew it was a normal thing to a lot of people. So he shrugged and leaned over to place a quick kiss on the bandaid.

"Better now?" he asked. Levy smiled brightly and nodded, hugging his neck and pulling herself to her feet.

Cana and Lisanna glared at Levy, crossing their arms. Gray turned to them and Levy stuck her tongue out, retracting it when Gray looked back at her. Cana linked arms with Gray and dragged him away. Gray looked back at the other two who had puffed cheeks and angered pouts. He shook his head. _Girls are weird…_

 **Empress of Everything suggested a love parallelogram which sounded like the funniest thing. Also I've discovered I can't write Elfman very well so he probably won't have very many scenes sorrysorry! And don't worry! The next chapter will be Erza's introduction!**

 **Is there any sort of special thing you guys want for Erza? I've got one plan for her, but I need a little more!**

 **Review and tell me what you thought!**


	7. Cousin Erza

It had been over 7 months since any new kids joined Fairy Tail. The last two had been Jet and Droy, who flung themselves through the door and yelled to see Makarov, trying to make themselves seem tough. They were OK, Gray thought, just too energetic for even him. They went on jobs together and constantly tried to get Levy to come with them. Levy, now 9, just didn't want to go with them. Not yet, at least. Gray had gone on a few jobs with Cana and Mira, if only because he was so _bored_ at the guild and these jobs provided him with temporary entertainment.

So why was it that when a new kid finally came it had to be _Erza Scarlet_. The fiery red-head seemed so confident and strong and stubborn. But Gray had found out quickly enough that wasn't quite the case. She cried. She was scared. The screams of insults and proclamations of rivalry in the guild soaked in through her invisible shield and terrified her. Erza wouldn't tell anyone why noises would spook her or why she always stayed so secluded but after that day at the riverside, Gray was determined to keep from seeing her cry again.

Which is how he found himself pinned on the ground with a dagger held aimed for him. Erza's grip on his shoulder was surprisingly tight; Gray couldn't even push himself up if he tried. He had planned on letting her win when she challenged him to an actually magical fight, but it seemed she was able to win on her own. She dropped the dagger in her hand and it disappeared before hitting the ground.

"You're very defensive, Gray," Erza commented, pulling him up on his feet.

"You caught me off guard!" Gray huffed, crossing his arms and turning to the side away from the girl.

"I never said it was a bad thing," Erza said. He looked back over at her with confusion on his face. She sighed and explained, "Being defensive means being aware at the right times…it can be very strategic if used correctly and not just because you're compensating for weakness…"

"Why do you know so much 'bout fight?" Gray asked. She talked so much about strategy and tactic but Gray barely knew anything about it. He just knew punch and kick then ask questions. "Did somebody teach you before you came here or something?"

"No. Everything I have learned I've learned on my own. Why do care?" Erza's eyes narrowed and her arms crossed. Though when she crossed her arms it was always more like a hug to herself with her hands under her armpits as if to protect herself.

 _Weird…_ Gray thought. He shrugged it off, opting instead to acknowledge the words Erza had just said. "I don't care!" He waved her off, headed back toward the guild. "But if you teach yourself so much maybe you should teach yourself how to play and have fun?" Gray called, shutting the heavy wooden door to the guild behind himself.

Erza stood on the sidewalk. Her lip quivered, _I'm alone again…by your own choice…YOU DUMMY!_ She smacked her forehead before starting the walk home. She pulled on the eyepatch and sighed, realizing her own new nervous habit. _Why would I need to play…I'm not weak like that!_

* * *

"Cana, ya needta stop spoiling that child!" Gray fussed in his usual "father voice." He scratched at his naked stomach and yanked up his loose shorts. The lollipop stick between his lips fell out onto the floor and Levy picked it up and threw it across the room.

"GOO!" she cried, crossing her arms. Gray glared and smacked her on the head.

"Child abuse!" Jet called, pulling Levy into a hug. Gray rolled his eyes, plopping down beside Cana and putting his arms behind his head. "Don't cry, Lev," Jet cooed at the wailing child.

"Heyhey, Auntie Mirajane is here!" Mira called, plopping down beside Lisanna. Lisanna hugged her, laughing.

"Ohh, Auntie Mira!" Lisanna giggled, "Did you bring presents?"

"Psh, hell yeah!" Mira pulled a soda out of her back pocket and handed to Lisanna, "Gotta spoil ya kids somehow! Lordy knows it won't be 'cause of your dad!"

"That's right! No sodas! Bring it here, daughter!" Gray roared, coughing and making grabby hands at Lisanna.

"Noooo!" Lisanna giggled, kicking at Gray's hands. "Never!"

"Gray, honestly!" Cana tugged his hair gently, "Leave the poor children be! They deserve treats every now and then!" Gray let Cana hug him, though he puffed his cheeks and mumbled in mock anger under his breath.

Erza watched the game from her table. It was amusing to see, especially when Elfman stomped over as the grandpa and called out for everyone to speak up while he cupped a hand around his ear. She watched them all: Jet and Droy fretting over Levy, Gray and Cana 'arguing' over parenting, Mira probably enforcing bad habits on her siblings…it was all so foreign to her. Erza could remember pretending to be a witch 'riding' around on a broom and having the time of her life. There wasn't much playtime back then, but what she experienced made some of the best memories she had. She hadn't even noticed she was staring quite obviously at the other children until Gray's face was inches away from her nose.

Gray snapped his fingers in front of Erza's face and waved his hands. She was out of it, it seemed. Cana had nagged at him to come over and invite her to play, but he couldn't exactly do that when Erza wouldn't even respond to him! He watched her blink and realize what was going on before speaking, "Look, we saw you watching us and Cana said I should ask if ya wanna play with us…"

"What?" Erza blinked. Had she been watching that obviously? For how long?

"Play. With us. House. Do you even know what that is?" Gray asked, leaning away from Erza and putting his hands on his hips. Erza shook her head. She couldn't even remember her own old home, let alone how to play as one. Gray's eyes widened. He had only been joking! He wasn't expecting to actually have no idea what House was! "W-well then you're playing with us!" He grabbed Erza's wrist and yanked her from her chair, dragging the older girl over to the house table. "She's playin' with us!" Gray announced, dropping Erza's wrist and sitting on the table top.

"So who do you want to be, Erza?" Cana asked. "We've already got the mommy and daddy. We've got a aunt and two uncles and the babies and a grandpa…" Cana explained who was already in the game for what position then allowed time for Erza to make a choice.

"…You get to be a person?" Erza asked. Everyone went silent, which flustered Erza. It was called House! What else was she supposed to assume other than they were all pretending they were houses?! She blushed and backed up a step, bringing her arms back around her body to hug herself. Mira couldn't hold in her laughter, bursting out loud and boisterous, pointing a finger at the red-head.

"Shut up, Mira!" Gray yelled, jumping on the white-haired girl's back. "She don't know what House is!" he explained still in the same loud tone.

"You've never played this before?" Levy asked, trying to take one of Erza's hands in hers. Erza shook her head shyly, hanging it after and turning away from the others as well as she could.

"Well!" Cana called, pulling everyone's attention her way. "You can be…the cousin! We don't have one of those yet!" Cana squealed, adding the extra member into the family tree. "You're Jet's daughter, the _beautiful_ model with closets jammed packed with outfits only worn once! You're so successful that you can afford to retire early, only doing the fashion shows that you love to do for charity and you move into the neighborhood with your family so you can reconnect after years on your own being really pretty and rich!"

Erza's eyes widened as Cana told her character's backstory, overwhelmed slightly at how Cana talked about her. _Beautiful?_ She nodded and gave a small smile, shifting on her feet and hanging her head.

"Great! Let's get going again!" Cana announced the resume of the game, hitting Gray on the head and snapping at him to get off his sister. Gray huffed and crawled off of Mirajane, complaining again about how it obviously Lisanna and Levy's faults. Levy took Erza's hand and squealed, cooing about how cousin Erzy came to visit.

"U-um…yeah! I just moved here to be closer to papa…?" Erza tried to explain. She was yanked into a seat between Levy and Lisanna, who begged to know about her fashion shows. "W-well…I do lots of them during the fall because the oranges and browns go well with my hair and stuff…" Her voice trailed off as she spoke, wariness present because she was so unsure if she was playing this game correctly.

"What did'ja say missy?" Elfman scooted closer to her, squawking about how his old ears couldn't hear her if she didn't speak up. "Did you say somethin' about oatmeal?"

Erza giggled, shaking her head. "Why would I mention oatmeal?" she asked, laughing because she had to ask that sentence.

"Because oatmeal is the answer to everything!" Elfman clicked his tongue after his answer, thinking about oatmeal was really working up the poor 'old man's appetite! "I'm going to go get some! Then you will know the power of oatmeal!" Erza laughed and shook her head as Elfman walked off slowly.

"So, Erza, why did you decide to move here? It surely couldn't have been just to be closer to your ol' Pop!" Jet asked, throwing an arm around Erza's shoulders.

"Um! Because it's peaceful-er here and y'know you can only take so much of runway!" Erza answered. She blushed and leaned forward, feeling heat behind her eyes.

"Well, Erza. I know you wanted to retire from the whole modeling thing but ya didn't have to let your own appearance go down!" Mira fussed, picking up the ends of Erza's hair after pushing Jet away.

"What do you mean?" Erza spun around, putting her hands over her hair. She knew it wasn't very well taken care of, but if she was a model, surely that wouldn't even be an issue for the game! Cana snuck around from Gray's 'drunken' hold to examine Erza's poorly kept hair. It was extremely greasy, to the point where it hard to tell if it was grease or water at the scalp. The ends were destroyed, fried and split to the point it was hard to tell where one strand began and another ended.

"You're right, Mira!" Cana breathed out, leaning forward to look Erza in the eyes, "When was the last time you had a good pampering?"

"Uh…" Erza looked anywhere but at the two critical girls who were ever too glad to touch her hair and whisper to each other. "I dunno…"

"Emergency girls club meeting!" Cana announced, taking Erza's hand and running off with the other girls trailing after them. They all fell into the bathroom, Cana slamming the door shut and telling Erza to sit on the toilet lid. "Does somebody got shampoo?"

"Yeah, I have some in my cubby," Levy said, going over to the metal cubby in the corner of the bathroom and finding the bottle. Everyone in the guild had one of these cubbies to keep their toiletries that might be needed just in case something were to happen and they would need to stay at the guild temporarily. "Here you go, Cana."

Cana took the bottle with a thanks and started up the sink, testing the water's temperature. "OK, Erza, c'mere." Erza followed the younger girl's instructions and stuck her head under the water, trusting her and Mira to not try to drown her while they washed her hair. The shampoo smelled good, like strawberries and flowers, which made the experience a little less horrifying. They rinsed out the shampoo and Lisanna got a towel to help Erza drying her hair. Levy had snuck out the door to go find the scissors Mirajane told her to get.

Erza's eyes widened when she saw the scissors. She wasn't sure she trusted them that much.

"We have to, Erza!" Cana explained, "You're hair needs to be cut or else it won't grow any healthier. I don't care about how it got this way, but I wanna help you fix it now!"

It took a little persuasion before Erza gave in. Cana took her own hair down to use the hairtie she had. She put the hairtie in Erza's hair, pulling it down until it was loose and lined up just about with her jaw. _Snip!_ Erza felt her hair tickle her cheeks and the ponytail just removed was placed on the sink in front of her.

"Don't look yet, Erza," Lisanna said when she saw Erza's head start to rise. They turned Erza to the side and cleaned up the cut, making the raggedy look Erza walked in with become a cute bob with long bangs hanging over eyes. The four girls finally let Erza look up, smiling at their work. Erza's eyes filled with tears and a hand clamped over her mouth. She didn't look like the same grief-stricken little girl that walked into Fairy Tail just two weeks before. She looked like the beautiful girl Cana was describing as Cousin Erza.

"Oh, don't cry Erza!"

"We're sorry!"

"We didn't want to make you cry!"

"It'll grow back!"

Erza smiled. For once, it was big. A big, bright smile. She spun around to face the other girls and enveloped them all the best she could in a hug. "Thank you, you guys…" she breathed out.

* * *

"Oi, they've been in there a long time. What d'ya think they're doing?" Gray asked Droy, crawling out from under the table to sit beside the other boy.

"They said something about Erza's hair before they went in there. I guess it's a makeover or somethin'," Droy answered, dropping his head down on the table. "Whatever they're doing I hope they finish soon! I need to pee!"

Just then the door opened. Out walked Mirajane, Cana, Levy, and Lisanna with Erza taking up the caboose.

"Finally! You guys were in there forEVER!" Gray complained, getting up to meet the girls. He froze when he saw Erza, who crossed her arms without hugging herself. "What happened to your hair?" he asked.

"Don't be rude!" Cana fussed, smacking his head.

"OW!" Gray yelped. "I just wanted to know what you guys did to her! Why did you cut her hair?! It was pretty when it was long!"

"So it's not pretty now?" Mira asked, linking arms with Erza. As much as she didn't want to be buddy-buddy with this girl, it offered an opportunity to pick on Gray so she was going to gladly take it.

"That's not what I said!" Gray yelled.

"So you think she's pretty?" Mira snickered, leaning toward Gray. Gray blushed and turned away.

"That's not - !" He sighed, "Yeah, sure…"

"Oooh!" Cana and Levy cooed, hugging one of Gray's arms each. Lisanna giggled and held Erza's hand, looking up at the girl who was looking different.

"Gray," Erza called, catching Gray's attention. "Don't think I can't still kick your butt." She smirked, hugging Lisanna closer.

Gray grinned, "Is that a challenge?"

"You bet."

 **Wow I've been writing a lot...anyway I'm really happy with how this turned out! It was kind of really Erza focused, which was an accident... but in order to do what I want for the next chapter I had to do this...yeah, we'll go with that!**

 **Review and tell me what you thought! Also, if you see errors, PLEASE tell me! I accidentally closed out my tab with this story and had to re-edit it so I may have missed some things that I originally had gotten!**


	8. Birthday Boy

Gray looked over at the giggling gaggle of girls he was friends with. They had refused to let him in on their conversation even when he promised kisses on cheeks. It wasn't fair! Why could they just have these secret meetings without him?! They had started being more frequent within the week, and they were more persistent with keeping Gray out of the conversations.

They eventually stopped and scattered, Cana coming over to Gray's side and plopping down at his side. "Heya, Grumpypants," she greeted, hugging his arm and leaning on the table.

"I'm not grumpy…" Gray grumbled, looking away from Cana when she snickered at him. "I'm mad 'cause you guys won't tell me what you're doing…"

"Well you don't need to know everything, y'know," Cana said. She let his arm go and pulled out a coloring book, offering it to her best friend as a peace token. Gray flipped through the pages and found one he wanted to color, listening as Cana talked about the kitten that had shown up at her home the night before. "You should come over and see her! I'm naming her Aurora because she sleeps so much!"

"I don't even know where you live, you know," Gray said, nudging Cana's arm with his shoulder. He swung his legs as he focused on coloring the puppies blue on the page. Cana placed her chin on his shoulder, watching him color.

"Well, I can show you, then! We can have a sleepover!"

"Well…I dunno…" Gray drew out his words, taking in the opportunity to tease Cana the way she did to him constantly.

"Please, Gray!" Cana whined, shaking him and tickling him. Eventually he agreed, if only to make her stop ticking his toes. "Great, we'll leave after dinner!" Cana squealed. The plan was going perfectly! Gray rolled his eyes, mumbling out a "whatever" and finishing his picture.

After dinner, most of Gray and Cana's friends fled the guild without much of an explanation. Even Erza was gone, helping Levy drag out Jet and Droy. It was weird, a little too weird if you asked Gray.

Cana stood slowly from the table, grabbing her purse and holding out a hand for Gray to take. "C'mon, it's time for you to meet Aurora!" She giggled. Gray got up and took Cana's outstretched hand to let her lead the way. They walked fairly slowly, pointing out animals in the grass and pretty summer flowers. Gray commented on the hot weather every few minutes to which Cana would punch his arm. The two ignored the coos from old ladies who commented on their hand-holding as if they were a couple. It kind of disgusted Gray, who after a while fussed at an old lady for accusing him of dating his best friend. At that point Gray released Cana's hand and crossed his arms under his armpits in a sort of pout.

They hopped up the steps of Fairy Hills and into the lobby. "Is this whole thing a house?" Gray asked, stepping into the hallway and peering down it.

Cana shook her head, "No, it's an apartment place. I live upstairs, c'mon," she explained, motioning for Gray to follow her. Once they made it up to her room, Cana spent a few minutes jangling around in her purse trying to find her keys. "Where are those stupid things!" she yelled, dropping the bag onto the floor and looking around in more detail for the offending object. She finally produced them triumphantly, jamming them in the door and ignoring the laughing Gray at her side.

As the door opened, a chorus of "SURPRISE!" sounded as all their friends jumped out from behind Cana's furniture. Cana turned to Gray with a grin on her face, nudging him into the room.

"You never had a kitten, did you, Cana?" Gray asked, whipping around to face her.

"Nope! No pets allowed!" she snickered. Everyone gathered around Gray, wishing him happy birthday. He laughed, not believing he had forgotten it was his own birthday.

"Thanks, you guys!" They all sang the happy birthday song as Cana brought out cake, setting it on the card table Elfman had carried in earlier. The cake was strawberry and decorated with snowflakes and blue icing that was supposed to have made icicles. His name was written out in purple icing along with 'Happy B-Day!' and the number 10. Gray blew out the candles put on the cake and they all dished it out, sitting around Cana's room with cake and ice cream. Gray sat between Cana and Erza with his feet pressed against Mira's own toes. He laughed watching Jet and Droy fight over who sat on which side of Levy. Elfman and Lisanna sat on either side of Mira, blabbing away about how it was a combined effort to make sure Gray thought only the girls were having their little club meetings.

Erza tapped Gray on the shoulder, getting his attention on her before smooshing icing on his nose. "Blech!" Gray swiped at his face, falling over as he flailed around trying to get the frosting off. Everyone laughed as he turned bright red, "Not funny!"

"Oh, it was very funny, Gray! Erza snickered, licking her fingers free of the icing left over.

"OK," Cana managed through her laughter. "Presents time!" Everyone got out their gifts and piled them in front of the birthday boy. From Levy, Gray received a new Captain America comic book. Jet and Droy got him an action figure that doubled as a watergun, which both Levy and Lisanna seemed to fear. Mira, Lisanna, and Elfman each got him a small stuffed animal. The one from Mirajane was a corgi plush (which was very hard for Gray to not squeal at) and the one from Elfman was a pig who was supposed to be covered in mud. The one from Lisanna, however, was a frog with a little crown on its head. Gray laughed out loud, remembering how he chased Levy around with a real frog. Lisanna stuck out her tongue to Levy when his face lit up at the frog, to which Levy replied with her own tongue protruding from her mouth. Erza got him a comic book like Levy, but the one from her was of zombies instead of super heroes.

And then there was Cana's present. It was not in the pile, which Gray didn't quite understand. Cana got up and went to her bed, pulling out a box from under her blankets. It seemed smaller than the others and was covered in glittery paper. Gray pulled off the gold ribbon around the present box and gently unwrapped the paper. He opened the hinged box to find a silver chain. Brow furrowed, he pulled it up by the chain. On the end was a frosted clear rose with a ruby in the middle.

"Do you like it?" Cana asked, pulling Gray's attention away from the beautiful piece of jewelry. Gray nodded, unhooking the clasp and putting the necklace around his neck. "I saw it in a shop and it reminded me of when we first met and you showed me your magic. You made such a pretty ice rose…and ruby is your birthstone…yeah…"

"It's real pretty, Cana, honest!" Gray said, hugging the girl. "All this is awesome, you guys!" Gray announced, turning to face his other friends with an arms still around Cana's neck. "You guys didn't have to do all this, y'know!"

"We wanted to, though!" Levy said, scooting over to him and hugging him. All the others joined in as well, hugging the birthday boy and pushing him over to tickle him. It was one of the best birthdays Gray had ever had.

He ended up spending the night with Cana when everyone else went home (two out of seven just walking a few feet to their rooms). The two stayed up most of the night eating the rest of the cake and watching TV. They never even made it to bed, crashing on the floor surrounded by pillows and blankets with Aristocats playing in the background.

 **Well this was short compared to the last chapter...but I wanted to do a birthday thing!**

 **Also, who do you guys think I should introduce next? I don't want to bring in Natsu quite yet because that's a year different if I figured it up correctly age-wise. If we can't think of someone to join I'm focusing on the Thunder God Tribe because I love them.**

 **Review and tell me what you think!**


	9. Stormy Storytime

Rain poured down outside in Magnolia one November afternoon. Gray and Cana stood under an awning at a shop in town waiting for the rain to end. Thunder sounded over head after a flash of lighting that both kids jumped at seeing. Cana held Gray's hand tighter, wishing they had Erza or Mirajane with them.

"It ain't gonna stop, is it?" Gray grumbled, peaking out at the street as people ran back and forth with umbrellas. The two kids didn't think it would be this bad of a rainstorm, so they were only in the ponchos that Makarov gave them.

"Doesn't look like it," Cana said, looking down at the basket of fruit and vegetables in her hand. Another strike of lightning lit up the sky that made both kids jump and the loud roar of thunder had Cana burying her face in Gray's underarm. Gray stomped a rain booted-foot angrily, yelling at the sky to stop being so loud and mean. The sky responded with more lightning, which had Gray scurrying back under the awning and sitting on the planter's box by the door. The little shop was closed or else they would have gone in for shelter.

"Big dumb sky needs ta shut it!" Gray complained, kicking the box with his heels. Cana sat beside him and linked their arms, watching the ground as an ant carried away a small leaf.

"What're you guys doing out here?" a voice suddenly asked over the sound of rumbling thunder. The two kids looked up to see Laxus standing there in the rain in front of them. His face was covered in raindrops and his headphones were in the pocket of his hoodie. "Shouldn't you be at the guild?"

"Master sent us to the market before it started storming…" Cana explained, standing up and pulling Gray up with her. "Why are you out here?"

"Gramps told me to make sure everybody was safe…" Laxus explained with an eye roll. Even though he wasn't fond of the kids, he couldn't really leave them out in an electrical storm like this. Especially when they looked scared out of their minds. "C'mon, let's get you guys somewhere dry…" he mumbled, motioning for the two kids to follow him.

Gray and Cana hesitantly stepped out from under the awning, following behind Laxus like ducklings. They still held hands, not wanting to lose the other because some random stranger knocked into one of them and they got left behind. Laxus stared straight ahead, looking around for any open shop that looked relatively safe to leave the kids in. Everything was calm and fine for a few minutes, the only noise being the sound of rain hitting the pavement and thunder rumbling over their heads.

Everything probably would have stayed calm had a huge flash of lightning not lit up the entire sky. The thunder for it nearly sounded at the same time as the strike. Gray and Cana each grabbed one of Laxus's wrists, refusing to let go in their whimpers. The blond's eyes widened at them, not quite expecting them to cling to _him_ for comfort. He gulped, removing his hands from his hoodie pocket and offering his palms for the kids to hold. And sure enough, they clung to either hand with both of their own, Cana even burying her face in Laxus's side.

After they were able to recover from the scare, Gray and Cana relaxed, only holding onto Laxus's hands with one of theirs. Laxus was able to find one open place he could take them; the laundro-mat. He led them in and had them sit down in plastic waiting chairs while he went to find something to get them dry.

Gray watched Laxus go into the bathroom, waiting until he was behind the door before he moved to sit by the heater. Cana followed, stripping off her poncho and smoothing out the wrinkles of her dress.

"This sucks…" Gray whined, taking his own poncho off and tossing it on a folding table. Cana sneezed, shaking her head.

"I'm cold…" she said, crossing her arms and shivering. Gray tugged her by the elbow closer to the heater. He'd gotten them over to the heater because he'd figured Cana would be cold. She sneezed again and Gray hugged her close, watching to see if Laxus would come out with something to dry her off.

Luckily, the teen emerged from the bathroom with towels in his hands. "Here," he said, unfolding the towels and putting one on either child's head. Cana dried off her hair and arms and legs, glad to be at least semi-warm now. She sneezed again, which drew concern from Laxus. "Why're you sneezing like that?" he asked, stooping down to her eye level.

"She's done sneezed a bunch of times," Gray explained, leaning against the wall.

Laxus nodded and put the back of his hand to Cana's forehead, "…Feels like you're getting a temperature," he mumbled, standing back up. "I'll be right back…"

The teen left them alone again and Gray huffed, not liking how Laxus was treating them. He hopped up on a table and pulled Cana up beside him, letting the girl rest her head against his shoulder and hold his hand once more. Cana coughed into her free hand and groaned, feeling icky all of a sudden. She was grateful to see Laxus come back in, though not so happy to see the worry on his face. Laxus never worried. At least, never about one his guild members.

"Here, drink this," he said, tossing Cana a bottle of soda. He handed one to Gray as well, figuring the boy would complain if he'd only gotten one for Cana. "So, you might be getting sick…let's hope it isn't bad," Laxus explained. "Please don't puke, though."

Gray snickered, sipping his own soda while Cana struggled to get the cap off. He took it from her and opened it, handing it back with a smug look on his face. She shoved his shoulder and took a drink. Laxus sighed and leaned back on a washing machine, looking out the window at the rain. The thunder and lightning had mostly subsided at this point, leaving only the heavy rain to patter against everything in the way. If the rain didn't end soon, he'd probably have to take the kid to the hospital just to make sure she didn't get too bad, which Makarov probably wouldn't be too happy about.

"When we goin' back to the guild?" Gray asked, pulling his feet up on the table and letting Cana rest on his legs.

"Whenever the storm's over," Laxus answered. "Doesn't look like it's ending anytime soon, so ya might as well get comfortable." Laxus hopped up on the washer, crossing his legs and staring out the window.

"…story?" Cana managed to ask, looking to the teen with hopeful eyes.

"Story?" Laxus wrinkled his nose, "I don't do stories, kid. Just take a nap or something, both of you."

"Can't nap without a story," Gray smirked, leaning forward expectantly.

Laxus sighed, "Fine…" He searched his mind for any story he knew. "There once was a puppy who wanted nothing more than to be a mermaid," he began, earning snickers from both kids, "But everyone always told him that it was impossible because he was only a dog…" Laxus told his story, which ended in the puppy being adopted by a professional swimmer that taught him how to swim, essentially allowing him to reach his goal. "There's your story, happy now?" Laxus asked rhetorically, leaning back and letting his legs dangle off the machine he was perched on.

Gray nodded, looking out the window, "Hey! It stopped raining!" he shouted, moving Cana's head off his lap and jumping down to look closer. Laxus got up as well, nodding at Gray's observation. "Does that mean we can go back to the guild?"

"Yep." Laxus stood by Cana, letting the girl decided if she wanted to walk or not. She clung to Laxus's neck and fell asleep before they even got out the door. Gray carried their basket and held onto Laxus's hand as the three made their way back to Fairy Tail. "By the way…don't tell anybody about this, OK?"

"Tell anybody about what...?" Gray asked, unsure of what 'this' was.

"Exactly."

"What?"

 **Silly Laxus, you really do care! Sorry for such a long wait, guys, but it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to write. This isn't exactly Thunder God Tribe, but it has Laxus! And more of a focus on Gray and Cana! Next chapter will introduce Natsu, I promise!**


	10. Natsu's Got a Crush!

"Heya, Ice Princess!" Natsu giggled, plopping down beside of Gray. The pink-haired boy had shown up at the guild just about 3 weeks before, and ever since then Gray has been oh so close to yanking his all of his hair out of his head. Natsu was a fire mage; specifically, he was a Fire Dragon Slayer. And Gray couldn't stand him.

"What'cha want, Flame Brain?" Gray grumbled, leaning back against the table and watching Cana with all the other girls. It wasn't fair, he thought, that another boy shows up and he turns out to be the absolute opposite of himself.

"You know you're not wearing pants, right?" Natsu snickered, "Or a shirt. Just undies," he burst into laughter, flaming at the mouth. Gray rolled his eyes and huffed at the boy.

"Whatever, I don't care anymore…" Gray crossed his arms over his chest, "Is that all you wanted to say, you hot-head?"

Natsu calmed down, sitting upright and coughing, "Uh…not really…" He was suddenly acting shy, which was concerning to Gray. "Y'know, Erza's really pretty…" Natsu said in almost a whisper. Gray's eyes nearly bugged out of his face at the sentence. Did Natsu seriously just say _that_?!

"You like Erza?!" Gray shouted, laughing until he fell off the seat. The girls all looked over at the two with glares. Natsu turned bright red, waving his hands frantically at Gray and trying to get rid of all the attention that was now on them. The girls all made their way over, standing over the boys with crossed arms and heavy glares. Gray stopped his boisterous laughing, sitting up and grinning at the girls, "Hey…meeting over already?"

"Are you being mean to Natsu again, Gray?" Cana leaned over her best friend with her hands on her hips.

"No!" Gray shouted, "He started it!" Gray crawled out away from the girls' circle, taking hold of Mirajane's hand to use her like a shield.

"Nuh-uh!" Natsu shouted, scrambling over to him, "You started it!" he yelled, hoping to cover his blush with loudness. "You were the one pickin' on me!"

"That's not hard!" Gray shouted back, using Mira's finger to point at him. The teen girl pulled away, moving to the side.

"Why were you picking on him, anyway, Nakey?" Mira asked, leaning over Gray's shoulder to look him in the eye. Natsu shook his head, trying to get across to Gray to not say anything.

"He should say it himself!" Gray huffed, stomping away from everyone and crawling under the table to sit with Happy, who was contently gnawing on a piece of fish.

Everyone looked at Natsu expectantly, which flustered the little boy even farther. He wasn't expecting this, nor was he expecting to be so embarrassed about a little crush. "W-well um! I…" he looked away, trying to figure out a way out of this situation.

" _Hey, look whose back_!" someone in the guild shouted, pulling all the attention away from Natsu and onto Gildarts. Natsu sighed in relief, sneaking beside Erza a little closer than anyone else dared to get.

"Hiya, Erza…" Natsu mumbled, putting his hands behind his head. "So…wanna fight?" he grinned, hoping the girl would say yes.

"Someone recovers quick…" Erza commented, turning to watch Cana scold Gray as her distraction from Gildarts. "But, sure." She nodded, fixing her braid.

"Yay!" Natsu shouted, running over to Happy and grabbing him by the paw to drag him off and prepare for the fight. Erza shook her head but smiled anyway. That boy was a handful.

"Y'know, Erza, he likes you…" Gray snickered, receiving a smack upside the head from Cana. Erza nodded, crossing her arms and commenting on how it was obvious.

"He does?" Lisanna asked, grabbing Levy's hand. Gray nodded and questioned why she cared. "N-no reason!" she responded in a high-pitched voice.

"It's OK, Lissy," Levy hugged her, giggling slightly and dragging Lisanna off with Jet and Droy in tow to play together.

Cana shook her head and turned back to Gray, who was talking with Mirajane animatedly about how if Natsu didn't want him to say anything he shouldn't have told. Mira scolded him harsher than even Cana could manage, which was saying something since Gray had many dark bruises on his arms from Cana's lectures.

"Ready, Erza?!" Natsu shouted, running into the room and colliding one flaming fist with Erza's back. Too bad she had already dawned her Flame Empress Armor. Erza spun around and easily pinned Natsu to the ground, hitting him hard in the face and leaving a mark on his cheek.

* * *

"You dummy, you know you can't beat Erza!" Lisanna fussed, wrapping Natsu's arm with gauze after his latest fight with Erza. It had been the fifth one in two weeks, and Lisanna was getting tired of trying to bandage him up. She put a bandage over the cut on his forehead from his fight two days before that had re-opened.

"I can too!" Natsu stuck out his tongue. Happy hopped up in Natsu's lap, cooing about his boo-boos. "I just need to catch her off guard!"

"Good luck with doing that, Natsu…" Lisanna mumbled, cleaning his knuckles. "You should be go on a mission or something instead of fighting her again, at least then you can get some money!"

"And buy me more fishies!" Happy added, nodding at Lisanna's idea.

"But I gotta beat her!" Natsu whined, dropping his head on the bar. "OW!" he shouted, lifting his head back up to keep pressure off his wounds. "Just…one more fight, OK?" he hopped down, grabbing Happy's tail to make the exceed follow him.

"But, she'll hurt you again!" Lisanna cried. She huffed once he was out the door, annoyed that Natsu ignored her warning.

"Erzaaaaaaaaaa!" Natsu shouted, readying a flaming fist to slam into the girl's head. Erza spun around without requipping, putting her arms up to stop him.

"Enough!" Erza shouted, dropping him to the ground. "I won't fight you again, Natsu," she said, sitting beside him in the dirt.

"But why?!" Natsu whined, sitting up and looking the girl in the eyes. "I know I can beat you, just let me try!"

Erza shook her head, "Why do you want to win against me so bad?" she asked. Natsu looked taken aback, looking away to think.

"…I dunno?" he responded, bringing his knees up to his chest.

"Right…so it has nothing to do with you liking me?" Erza asked, watching the horror grow on Natsu's face.

"No I don't!" he shouted, getting to his feet. "I'mma pound Gray's face into the ground!" he started to run off, only to have his ankle grabbed and to be pulled back on the ground. "Oof! Hey, what gives?!"

"Gray has nothing to do with this," Erza said, getting up and leaning over Natsu. "Just know, if you want to beat me, it should be for something more than a crush, Natsu."

He blushed, covering his face with his scarf. She really was pretty. Stupid Gray.

Back in the guild, Gray and Cana sat in front of a window watching the two. "Poor Natsu, he has to feel so bad," Cana said, leaning on her palm.

"Poor Erza!" Gray added, "She's the one who's got somebody liking her!"

"But Natsu's the one who likes her. He has to feel bad knowing she doesn't seem to like him back…" Cana explained, pushing Gray's shoulder.

"He'll get over it!" Gray snickered, watching as Natsu trailed after Erza with his mouth going a mile a minute about who-knows-what. Cana rolled her eyes, getting down to go talk to Levy about how dense Gray was. "Hey, where are you going?" Gray whined, grabbing Cana's wrist before she went too far away.

"I was gonna go talk to Levy…" Cana said. Gray shook his head, pulling Cana back up on the bench beside him. He held her hand and refused to let her down, laying down in her lap like a cat.

Cana snickered, running a hand through his hair. "You've been spending too much time with Happy…" she commented, smooshing Gray's puffed cheeks and kissing his forehead. "What's gotten into you?"

"I dunno…" Gray answered, rolling on his side and playing with the hem of Cana's dress. "It's boring when you leave…"

"Yeah, of course that's your reason," Cana whispered, looking out the window as Natsu danced around in the street with Happy. _Boys. What a waste…_

 **I am sorry I am Natza trash please ignore me I am expanding the simple love-pentagon with Lisanna being over Gray...is that good enough? Also, a lil' somethin' is going on with Gray! What's up with him?  
**

 **Review and tell me what you thought! The next chapter has something to do with a baby, can you guess who?  
**


	11. Something's up with Gray!

It had been a few days since Macao had been at the guild, and people were starting to get worried. Especially the over-reactive children. Comments ranged from, "What if he _died_!" to "What if he's just tired of your stupid face!" which lead to everyone being tense. Luckily, after about two weeks, he was back at the guild. However, something was…different.

"Macao! You're back!" Cana shouted when she saw the man come in the guild one Tuesday morning. It was a chilly, chilly January morning and snow was dancing around in the wind outside. Some of it clung to Macao and the bundle in his arms. The bundle was wrapped in a plum purple blanket with moons and stars sewn on it. "What's that?" Cana asked, pointing at the lump. Gray, Levy, Jet and Droy looked up from the coloring book Levy was very focused on coloring to see what Cana was talking about.

Macao smiled and stooped down in front of the five children and unwrapped the blanket slightly to reveal a baby. The two girls cooed and squealed, pushing the boys out of the way so they could see the baby better.

"He's so cute!" Levy giggled. The baby opened his eyes and stared up at his admirers with chocolate irises. He gurgled and smiled, stretching one chubby hand out to grab Cana's nose. Cana giggled and took his tiny hand with two fingers, shaking it and making the baby laugh. "What's his name?" Levy asked as she made kissy faces at him and tickled his neck and arms.

"His name is Romeo," Macao said. The girls called the name at Romeo and smiled when he made extra noises at the word. "Either one of you want to hold him?"

"Who's the baby?" Mirajane asked as she came in with Erza. She loomed over Macao's shoulder as he explained it was his child and also the reason he hadn't been at the guild for two weeks. "Well I wanna hold him!"

"You gotta wait your turn, Mira!" Cana exclaimed. "Me and Levy got dibs!"

Macao stood to keep Romeo out of harm's way as the little girls "battled" it out for who got to hold the baby first. They punched and pulled each other's hair, cried and yelled at each other, and bit fingers. He finally had enough, turning to Erza and holding Romeo out for her to take. "You want to hold him, Little Red?"

"Um!" Erza yelped. "Sure!" She held out her arms and took the child, resting his head on her elbow and holding his bottom with her opposite hand. Erza put a bounce in to her weight, cooing at Romeo while the baby giggled and took and fistful of her hair. He didn't pull it or even give a tug. He just simply held on, like the hair was a comfort.

"Wow, you're good at that, Erza!" Jet commented, coming over to see the baby after being shoved out of the way.

"I've never held a baby," Erza said. Her heart was pounding in her ears and she was sure everyone could hear it, especially Romeo. But, if he could hear her heart, he didn't seem to mind.

"MACAO, YOU'RE BACK!" Natsu screamed, running into the guild and slamming into the man's leg. He cried and screamed about how he'd thought Macao was dead and how happy he was that Macao was back. "DON'T EVER LEAVE AGAIN WITHOUT ME WITH YOU!" he screamed. Romeo didn't seem to appreciate the screams, and decided to respond to them with his own. It was only then that Natsu noticed that Romeo was present. He saw the child was crying and scrambled to his feet, leaning over Erza's arms to see him. Romeo still cried no matter how much Erza tried to soothe him, so Natsu tried something. "Hey, Baby, look at this," he said. Romeo looked at him and watched through his alligator tears as Natsu backed up and punched himself dramatically.

"Guuuh!" Romeo gurgled. His crying stopped but his smile wasn't back yet. So, Natsu connected a fiery fist to his own gut. Gray hopped over and play fought with Natsu. The two made dramatic displays when they flopped onto the ground or were "punched" hard enough to send their head to the other side. Romeo finally laughed and squirmed when Natsu was frozen to the floor by his shoes.

"Good job, boys," Macao praised, ruffling either boys' hair. They smiled and fixed their hair. Erza handed Romeo back over to his father and the baby was put in Levy's arms.

"How do you hold him?" she asked in a very small voice. Macao placed her hands in the proper places and had her sit down so she wouldn't drop him. Romeo smiled at Levy, holding onto her shirt. "He's so cute!" she cooed. Romeo clicked his tongue and jerked his legs happily as he squirmed around. Gray sat beside Levy and played peek-a-boo with the baby, which made Levy laugh possibly more than Romeo. She shoved Gray's shoulder with her own teasingly when he tried the game on her. Jet and Droy sat on the table and loomed over Levy's shoulders to mess with the baby as well.

Eventually, though, Cana wanted her turn. Mira had since given up and gone to spend time with her siblings. Cana took the baby and sat down on the floor with him. Romeo grabbed at her nose again.

"I think he thinks you got a big nose, Cana," Gray teased. Cana stuck her tongue out at him. Romeo fell asleep in her arms, which is when Macao took him back and went off to go talk to his other guildmates.

"Oh, babies are so cute!" Cana squealed, taking Levy's hands in her own. "I want 10!"

"I want at least 12!" Levy giggled. The two girls jumped around in circles, happier than Gray ever remembered them being.

"It's just babies, guys," Gray grumbled. "They're boring 'cause they don't do nothing."

"How many babies have you been around?" Cana asked, crossing her arms. When Gray responded with "enough," she huffed and turned to the side, "Well then you don't know 'cause you haven't been around good babies!"

The boys groaned and complained as the girls continued to talk about babies. Eventually, though, they began whispering to each other and caught the three guys' attentions. "What're you guys sayin' now?" Droy asked.

"Nothing!" Cana and Levy squealed in unison. They giggled and Levy blushed before grabbing Cana's hand and running off to the other side of the guild to talk in peace.

Jet and Droy both turned to Gray, who turned bright red. "What!" he barked to mask the embarrassment, "I didn't do nothing!"

"Yeah, but Levy likes you. And Cana, too," Jet said, crossing his arms. Jet and Droy glared for a moment, which made Gray slightly uncomfortable as he didn't know what they were thinking.

"HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!" they screamed in unison, colliding with Gray.

"I don't know!" Gray shouted as he wiggled his way out from under the other two boys. Jet and Droy looked at him expectantly.

"Do you at least like one of them back?" Droy asked, leaning into Gray's personal space.

"M-maybe?" Gray responded, leaning away from the other boy.

"Which one?" Jet pressed.

"Um, well-"

Gray was cut off when Romeo started crying again. Natsu grabbed Gray by the shirt he was actually wearing for once and had him help calm the baby again. Gray was glad for it, honestly. He didn't want to tell Jet and Droy. Not until he talked to Mira.

 **WHOOPS I'M LEAVING IT THERE! Who does Gray like? ...I'm not sure myself yet, actually...heh**

 **Review and tell what you thought! Who do you think it is? Cana? Levy? Neither one? Is Gray just a confused 10 year old?**


	12. Valentine's Confession

Gray sat beside Mirajane outside the guild one morning. He brought her a hot chocolate from the guild since it was a very cold February morning. Mira had promised to help Gray with the little problem he was having in concern with one little…crush. He hated even saying the word!

"So, what should I do, Mira?" he asked, bringing his knees up to his chin as Mira sipped her drink and took in the information dump Gray just gave her. He explained how he'd been feeling funny around this girl and how he thought she was really pretty and he actually didn't mind how much she kissed him.

"Well, Valentine's Day is coming up, y'know." Mira smirked as Gray turned a bright red. "You could her – whoever it is – a present."

"Like what?"

"Well it depends!" Mira fussed, smacking him on the head. "Think a little! What does she like? Jokes between you two? Even just candies or a stuffed animal, just whatever she likes!" Gray nodded and continued asking Mira about crushes and what to do about wanting to punch something every time he was around her. "Well you could always punch a babydoll. Just try not to punch Natsu all the time."

"But it's too easy!" Gray whined, kicking Mira's shin with his cold bare toes.

"Your foot is frozen!" Mira seethed and flinched from the touch. "I don't care if you're an ice mage or not, this is too cold for a little boy! We're going inside!" She took his hand and dragged Gray back inside despite his protests.

"There you are, Gray!" Cana nagged, stomping over and taking her best friend by the hand, "We've been waiting! It's hard to play house without the daddy here!"

Gray huffed, rolling his eyes, "Jeez, sor- _ry_ ," he snickered when Cana stuck her tongue out at him and dragged him to Levy and Jet and Droy. The five played together for a while and Gray was able to keep from embarrassing himself around his crush, which was an amazing feat considering he wanted to smother his face with a pillow and punch Jet and Droy in the face when they'd bring it up.

"So when you gonna tell us, huh Gray?" Jet pressed, pushing into Gray's personal space. Gray gulped and reddened slightly when the girls looked over from talking with Erza.

"Tell them what?" Levy asked with a wrinkle to eyebrows.

"N-Nothing! Ignore them, they's dumb!" Gray yelled. He stood and announced he had to pee before punching Jet and running off toward Mira to vent about stupid Jet and Droy.

* * *

Valentine's Day rolled around quicker than Gray thought, which meant the time for him to give his present came quicker than he thought it would. He wasn't prepared.

Gray stood in front of the guild that morning clutching several bags of presents in his fist, but the most important one was in a gold and glittery bag with a large blue ribbon tied to the handles. He really, really didn't want to this.

Elfman came up behind Gray, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Go on inside, I'm sure she will love the present!"

"What are you talkin' about?" Gray asked nervously, not sure how Elfman knew what he was thinking about.

"Mira told me about your crush problem," Elfman smiled as Gray blushed in anger.

"MIRA!" he shouted at the sky. If she told Elfman, there was no telling who all she told! He couldn't help but be even more nervous knowing that there was a possibility the whole guild would be watching him.

And he right. When Gray finally worked up the nerve to go in the guild, eyes were all on him. Aside from Natsu, Lisanna, and the Thunder God Tribe that is. He lowered his gazed and jammed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, careful to not crush the bags. Gray made his way over his seat and passed out most of the presents, which were either chocolate or, in Erza's case, cake slices. The only ones left were Cana's and Levy's.

Gray took a deep breath a looked at the two girls with a nervous smile. Levy tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Why's there only one bag, Gray?" Levy asked, gesturing to the large golden bag.

Gray reached in it and took out two smaller matching bags and handed one to either girl. He spun around in his seat to avoid seeing their faces when they opened the bags. Cana and Levy exchanged looks before opening the bags (which were kind of heavy).

Cana gasped when she felt the gift, eyes going wide. She lifted it out and saw that it was a snowglobe. In the globe was a clear puppy figurine which stood frozen on its hind legs as the fake snow danced around it. Levy pulled hers out as well, which was a snowglobe also. Hers, however, had a frog figure frozen in a jumping position. The globes looked hand painted with little hearts around the bases and little stars and snowflakes. They were adorable, and obviously done by Gray.

"Did you do these?" Cana asked, shaking hers once more and giggling in pure joy. Gray nodded, still not turning around. "They're amazing!"

"It's so pretty, Gray!" Levy whispered. When Gray still didn't turn around, the girls shared a look and nod that put a plan into action. They got on either side of him and kissed his cheeks, which made him redden as brightly as possible. Levy giggled when he started freaking out, saying they shouldn't just do that to him. Cana rolled her eyes and kissed him once more, which sent him over the edge and under the table to pout.

"Oh, Gray! Stop being such a baby!" Cana giggled, peaking under the table at him.

"No!" Gray yapped, pulling his knees in closer. The girl's shook their heads together and went off to go play by themselves. Once Gray was alone, he groaned and smacked himself, knowing he'd just screwed up.

"Sooo…which was it you liked, Gray?" Droy asked, crawling under the table with Jet. Gray yowled and rolled onto his belly in hopes of avoiding the question. "That's not an answer!" Droy laughed, refusing to give up on getting an actual response from the ice mage.

"If I say, you gotta keep your mouths shut!" Gray said. He rolled back over to see them cross their hearts. Sighing, Gray sat up. "…I like 'em both…" he mumbled, staring at his lap.

"WHAT?!" Jet yelped. "You're kidding!" he laughed, falling onto Droy.

"I'm not!" Gray barked, turning red once again.

"That's not possible!" Jet laughed. "You gotta pick one!"

"I can't!" Gray explained loudly. "This is why I didn't say nothing!" He pouted more at them.

"We have to tell Mira!" Droy laughed.

"No!" Gray yelped, "I will! Eventually!" He made them pinky promise to not say anything, knowing that he would have hell to pay if the girls found out. He still didn't even know if he wanted to date either one of them, he just wanted his heart to work normally around them. And kisses would be welcomed.

 **I went with confused ten-year-old. Much easier than picking one girl right now. In the future, however, I will pick just one (and you all can guess that one).**

 **Review and tell me what you thought!**


	13. Summer Sickness

Hot summers were nearly unbearable to Gray. Everything burned to the touch and even if he was perpetually cold, he was always able to sweat in the heat. Even being stripped down to his boxers did nothing to relieve him. Which is precisely why he always was sick during the summer.

Cana knocked on the door to his small apartment one blazing summer morning. It was nearly noon and the 12 year old was growing concerned for her best friend. Levy, Jet, and Droy had left earlier that morning to go on a job and Natsu was busy helping Erza and Lisanna with chores Makarov put them on. This left Cana with only Mirajane and Elfman for company and that wasn't very entertaining when Mira was busy fighting with Erza and Elfman didn't talk much.

So, with a basket of soup and soda and sweets, Cana started out toward Gray's home (after getting directions, of course). She stood on the front step with her legs crossed as she waited for her best friend to answer the door. The door finally opened after several minutes and Gray stood in front of her sniffling.

"C-Cana?" Gray asked, stepping out of the way to let the girl inside. "What are you doing here?"

"You haven't been at the guild for three days, everybody's getting worried. So I came out here to make sure you were still alive," Cana explained, setting the basket down. "I also brought food!" Gray sneezed and thanked her as they took the basket of goodies into the tiny kitchen. "Are you sick?" Cana asked as she dished out the soup into bowls.

"It's the heat…" Gray said through a cough. He snapped the top of a can of soda and sipped at it as Cana did the same. They put the soup bowls onto a tray along with bread and Goldfish and took it to the living room. Cana hopped up on the couch and tugged Gray up beside her. The two ate with the TV on Spongebob. After finishing their lunch, Cana went back to the kitchen to get their desserts, two chocolate cupcakes with blue and yellow sprinkles.

After they finished the cupcakes, Gray started sliding down the back of the couch until he was laying down and his toes were resting against Cana's leg. "Are you sure you're alright?" Cana asked, "Do you need medicine or something?"

"I don't need no stupid medicine!" Gray insisted. He coughed loudly and clutched at his upset belly as Cana looked at him with sympathetic eyes. She got off the couch and started heading toward the bathroom. "Where ya goin'?" Gray asked.

"Just to the bathroom, don't worry." Cana smiled reassuringly and kept on until she was in the room. She popped open the cabinet above the sink and sifted through all the bottles for anything that would help for a cold. Sure enough, there was a bottle of children's syrup hidden behind allergy medicine that Cana took.

Back in the living room, Cana started pouring the liquid out on a spoon. "I don't need medicine, Canaaa!" Gray whined, turning on his side to face the sofa cushions.

"But it'll make you feel better, you big baby!" Cana fussed. She hopped up on top of Gray and turned him so she could see his face. "Now take your medicine like a man!" she yelled, shoving the spoon in Gray's mouth.

"Blech! Blech!" Gray gargled. He gagged and dropped to the floor, forcing Cana off his lap in his tumble. "So gross!" He gaped at the air and gripped at his throat as if it would get the taste out of his mouth. "That's not cherries!"

Cana giggled and helped him up. She handed him his soda and Gray gratefully sucked the whole thing down in one swig. "There, is that better, Mr. Grumpypants?" Cana teased.

"No," Gray answered plainly, taking her drink off it's coaster and drinking all of it at once. "That was disgusting."

"I could tell," Cana said with a snicker. Gray sneezed once more, which made Cana cringe. "Maybe it's time you get to bed…" she suggested.

Gray shook his head and insisted he wasn't tired. "Besides, I should probably go to the guild…" he added, coughing again and sniffling.

Like a doting mother, Cana still held that he should go to bed. "I'll even stay over if you want me to…" She blushed and looked at her feet at the statement.

"…OK, fine…" Gray finally surrendered, "but only if you stay!" Cana grinned and took Gray's hand as he lead the way to his room. She helped him into bed and turned on the air conditioner when Gray asked. Just as she was getting ready to leave the room, Gray piped up from under his blanket cocoon, "Where're you goin'?"

Cana turned around in the doorway, "…I'm going back to the living room?"

"No you're not!" he coughed. Cana rolled her eyes and crawled up beside the boy. Under the covers, the sheets were nearly frozen. She had never noticed that Gray's skin was so icy cold, even if he said it was just fine. Luckily, the blankets were warm in contrast to the air conditioning and Gray's body-freeze. "You're warm…" Gray commented, snuggling sickly against her.

Cana lifted her chin off his head in confusion, "Well, you're froze…"

"Nu-uh…" Gray sniffled, " 'M hot, too…"

Cana considered arguing with him, but decided against it figuring it was just one of his stalling attempts. "Just go to sleep, you dummy…"

Gray finally gave up and fell asleep. His cold breath blew evenly on Cana's neck and his heartbeat pattered on her arm. Cana drifted off as well, comfortable in the room and in Gray's hold. It was nice, just the two of them together for the first time in what felt like forever.

 **So, there's been a bit of a time-skip here. Skipped about two years because I couldn't think of anything more to add for the year. So, things might start moving quite quickly toward the present!**

 **Next will be them taking a mission! If you have ideas for what they could have to do for their job, let me know!**

 **Review and tell me what you thought!**


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